Crossing the Line
by xXPlayedByLifeXx
Summary: What's good what's bad? Is it a cover when it's all you got? Is it still an alias if your real life is dead? Julia or Sydney, lines are crossed when reality is fading. In the end is a tornmenting decision. Rating might increase. S/V and SARKNEY.
1. 1 Prologue

**Summary: What's good what's bad? Is it a cover when it's all you got? Is it still an alias if your real life is dead? Julia or Sydney, lines are crossed when reality is fading. In the end is a tornmenting decision. S/V and Sarkney.**

This is my first Alias fic. I'm writing a few other fics too, so I don't know how quickly I'll update, sorry ;). But I just had to get this out. I hope you like it, be nice :) and review! Please. Reviews totally make my day and increase my update-speed.

It's post season two. There's gonna be Sarkney but also Syd and Vaughn.

This is a repost of the first chapter, now after my great beta (cadeeo) has read through it and corrected it^^

Enjoy reading!

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Chapter 1 – The Assignment

"Julia Thorne was just asking for entrance. Should we stop her or something?" A man asked his supervisor.

"No, let her in like always. No need to send her running. Send her to my office when she arrives," the man said and walked away.

"All right, whatever you say, Mr. Farrell,'' the man replied to himself, knowing very well that Mr. Farrell couldn't hear him. He was curious about what his supervisor wanted from Julia; after all it didn't happen everyday that the boss of the whole Rom office and a very important person in the Covenant waited especially for one normal agent. He was just the security guy, not a field agent and he hadn't paid much attention to Julia Thorne, an operative who had been transferred to that particular office two month ago. Maybe now was a good time.

Julia Thorne, formerly known as Sydney Bristow walked into the office. She nodded to the security guy and waited slightly impatient when he motioned for her to hold on.

''Miss Thorne, Mr. Farrell wants to talk to you in his office," the man said to Julia with badly concealed curiosity in his voice. He hadn't noticed her before but she was pretty beautiful, maybe because she didn't come into the office often.

"Of course, thank you. I'll go right there," Julia said with a polite business smile. She nodded good-bye and went to said office. She could feel the security guy's eyes following her, but she didn't care. She was used to male attention and she used it to her advantage. It wasn't her fault that men's train of thoughts just seemed to stop in the presence of a beauty. Julia wondered what Farrell wanted from her, she hadn't had much to do with her supervisor and she hadn't done anything wrong or anything else she could think of. Although she had no idea what was awaiting her; Julia didn't hesitate one moment or showed any sign of nervousness. She knocked quickly and strode in confidently in a way that was purely Julia. She never backed down and she was always ready for everything.

"Miss Thorne, good to see you." Farrell greeted her, motioning for her to sit down on the only chair in front of his desk. The room was large, but it wasn't decorated very much. A desk, a few certificates and some unidentifiable abstract paintings hung on the walls and two shelves had a large amount of folders stacked in neat rows. On the desk were multiple papers, a computer and some picture frames, but those were placed so well that whoever visited the office could not see the photographs.

"Good to see you too, Mr. Farrell. I was told you wanted to talk to me?" Julia replied sweetly. She saw in Farrell's look that the guy wanted more from her than just conversation. But she wouldn't give him what he wanted, and he seemed to know that, too. Farrell was good-looking and highly ranked inside the Covenant, but Julia had a certain reputation to maintain, she only dated the best. Her men needed to be dangerous, deadly, and they had to fight to win her attention. Nothing of that seemed to fit Farrell. From what Julia had heard about him, he was sneaky, smart, fake through and through and most of all a coward. Not her type, definitely.

"Yeah. Let's get straight to business then. It seems like our leaders have much faith in you and your… abilities. There's a new job that needs to be done, it's important and not that easy. This is a job for the best only and the Covenant thinks that you're the right one to do it. So are you ready to go on to the next mission? I heard the last one was a little bit rough, but this needs to be done pretty soon, so…" Farrell told her politely, but his tone left no room for discussion.

"I'm ready for everything. As long as it's paid good enough."

"Well then I'd suggest that you go home and pack your stuff because your flight to Germany, is going in four hours. The assignment and everything else you need will be handed to you on the plane." Farrell explained, turning his attention back to his computer, a clear sign that he was done with the conversation.

"Ok. So I'll see you when I get back, I assume." Julia said, standing up and walked walking to the door.

"Oh, Miss Thorne?" Farrell asked without looking at her.

"Yeah?" Julia replied while turning around.

"This is important. If you fail there is going to be serious consequences. This mission should better go as planned. If you're successful you might even get some days off."

"So it's gonna be some time until I see you again, I guess. You know, I think I'll just go straight on vacation after I complete the mission, if that's ok?" Julia asked innocently. Farrell laughed in a way that made her hair stand

"Miss Thorne, don't get too excited. First you gotta be successful and get this job done and get out alive." Farrell said arrogantly.

"Well, Mr. Farrell, you don't know me very well. If you did, you'd know that I'm _always _successful." Julia said confidently with a daring tone, no one messed with Julia Thorne. Then she left the office and let the door slam shut behind her. It was just the way she was. She didn't back down or got intimidated by some guy who mistakenly thought she couldn't accomplish a mission. Julia had no fears. Sydney did, but Sydney wasn't important now, not while she was in the Covenants office.

Sydney was heartbroken because she had just seen the love of her life kissing his new girlfriend two days earlier. Sydney was dying inside and hating her CIA handler, Kendall, for telling her that she couldn't go back to her normal life. But Sydney wasn't important, not for the next few days anyway. After all Julia had a mission to handle and Sydney was dead and buried. Because though she wasn't really dead since she had only changed her identity, but everyone Sydney had loved thought she was dead, the CIA had closed her file, to the world Sydney Bristow had died in that fire. So the facts were: Sydney was dead and Julia was alive.

_In the end that's what counts. Because if I'm not Julia, what's left of me? Sydney's dead and there's no going back.__Because there's no life for me to go back to, everybody moved on and so should I. So will I._


	2. 2 The Familiar Unknown

Ok, here's the next chapter. It's not very long, but I'm leaving for holiday for 20 days and so I thought I'd just put it up. I got already the half of the next chapter, but I'm not sure if I'll be ready till tomorrow before I leave. **As always, REVIEW please.**

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Chapter 2 – The Familiar Unknown

Julia was standing at the airport, waiting in front oft he security check-in. Things like that really bored her. She would get through with the fake ID and the weapons anyway, but with the Covenant she actually had to wait like normal people. The private entrances and the skipping of any security was totally a advance of working for a government.

_Well, I'm kinda still working for the CIA, so it's not necessarily an advance._

Julia smiled slightly, Julia wasn't working for the CIA, but Sydney did. The smile vanished from her face pretty quickly, because thinking about the CIA made her think about Kendall, about Vaughn, about the life Sydney's lost and about her undercover job. She would never admit it, but at some point in the last weeks she had began to actually like Julia Thorne. Sure she was a terrorist and everything, but she lived a life Sydney could only dream off. Julia only made friends with who she wanted, she was daring, reckless and never backed down. She had men drooling and she was sexy through and through. Sydney could never have acted like Julia did, because her friends would damn her and Sydney used to be in a relationship all the time. In the CIA or other organizations Julia would have been out of the normal and an outsider, but in the Covenant and the other terrorist organizations rules and perceptions were different. She even kind of liked working for the Covenant, she was treated way better than at the CIA. Probably because the CIA was never afraid of losing her to the concurrence or the enemy.

Julia shook her head. Those thoughts were a sign of weakness, something Sydney never had before. She blamed Vaughn and his affair for her inappropriate thoughts, after all she wasn't a traitor. She would never like a terrorist or even just playing a terrorist. She wasn't allowed to like it.

Still lost in thoughts Julia reached the plane, she nodded coolly to the pilots and took her seat in the first class section. As soon as she had sat down her cell ringed. She accepted the call without bothering to look at the Caller-ID. Julia wasn't afraid of anyone. And if she was, she'd never show it.

"Yeah?" Julia asked sweetly but slightly annoyed. That was how she always answered her calls.

Like saying: _"I'm not pissed off yet so better don't bother me. But I'm nice just in case this is good."_

"Hey Julia darling. Just wanted to ask if you want to come over tonight. I invited Lily and we got three hot guys. Maybe the girls come over too."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Mia. I can't. I'm just headed to a mission. Something important whatever."

"Oh you bitch, you're just ditching me and the girls for work? Bad. Well, ok, I guess so there's one more guy left for us. I'm sure Lily's up to… sharing." Mia said in a seductive voice.

Sydney would have probably blushed or be intimidated by this rude language. But Julia of course wasn't.

"Oh, naughty. You're making me jealous you little slut." Julia said with a fake giggle. She came to love these conversations. She and her friends did it all the time when one of them were heading off in a plane. It was a really effective game because the girl sitting in the plane got immediately the whole male attention. Ok, sometimes they just did it to have some fun. With Julia and her friends it was all about fun and enjoying the life. Mia and Lily worked for the Covenant too, but Julia really grew fond of them. They were part of the reason that she actually liked her cover. There were no rules with her friends and they weren't ashamed of anything. But, of course, Julia aka Sydney ONLY spent her time with them because of her cover. That's what she was supposed to do.

Julia and Mia said their not very PG-13 "Good-byes" and Julia turned her attention to her neighbor, like she had only recognized him now. He wasn't her dream guy but he was some pretty eye-candy for sure. He would make the flight enjoyable to say the least.

A few hours later the plane finally was about to land in Frankfurt. Julia was still in the toilet, she only waited for the stewardess to knock any moment and ask her to get back to her seat. She sighed slightly. Peter had been quite nice, so had their little make-out session on this plane-toilet a few minutes before. But Julia still felt incomplete and Sydney still longed for someone different. It had been that way since the beginning. No man could make her forget the love of her life. But that didn't mean that Julia found no pleasure in making out or sex; she just saw no reason in stopping because she had to maintain her cover and because she had no hope to ever get Vaughn back, so where was the point in mourning?

She sighed again and adjusted one last time her outfit when the stewardess knocked and asked her politely to come out because the plane was about to land. Julia looked at herself in the little mirror, checked her now again perfect make-up and shot herself a sad look.

Then she straightened and put on a smile, opened the door and strode out of the toilet, excusing herself to the stewardess and going back to her seat next to Peter. She flashed him another fake smile and fastened her seatbelt. While Peter was talking about something she looked out of the window, not even bothering to appear interested.

That evening Julia was sitting in a little bar, waiting for her partner to contact her. The assignment the Covenant has given to her said that he unknown partner would contact her in this bar where she should wait for him. She hated waiting for some stranger. Julia hated to have to sit around and wait for some guy. At least she really hoped it was a guy, that would make things more exciting and she would be able to have some fun and get her mind off … some things. Because the job was pretty easy judging after the information she had gotten. It was a simple murder, even an anonymous one. Those she preferred, because that way she didn't knew who she was killing. She had no name for the person, not even a photo. Only time and place and the assignment to kill the person who showed up. It was easier with no name and no background on the person, because it didn't seem real then. It was just somebody somewhere. Some stranger she didn't knew, she would never knew, no thoughts about consequences, no guilt because of left behind relatives.

"One more of this. I don't know what it is, but it's strong and that's just what I asked for, thanks for recommending it." Julia ordered not paying any attention to the barkeeper. She was getting more frustrated with every minute that passed. For God's sake, she didn't even know the way she would be contacted. She knew nothing, not who, not how, not when, nothing. And she hated it. While she was waiting and thinking she couldn't help but have the feeling, that this whole mission was more than it seemed to be. The Covenant knew what she was capable of; it wasn't logic to send her on such mission. Any other normal, less gifted agent could do what she was ordered too. Farrell had sounded like this was important, but if this was important, then why so few information. After what she had seen so far there wasn't even a need for a partner. Julia had the feeling like this job was nothing like her other ones.

Another filled glass was set down before her, similar to the empty one standing in front of her. Julia muttered a "Thanks" and reached for it. But it was taken away again before she could grab it. Alarmed she looked up. And stared in two ice blue eyes. Suddenly she wasn't able to think coherent, she was just staring, about to get lost in these two eyes, but at the same time scared to hell. Seemed like her partner had found her and he sure as hell wasn't unknown to her.

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**I think you can already guess who it is that Syd's staring at. :) See that button right under this chapter?? It's screaming your name and begs you to click it ;) So do me and the button a favor and review. It doesn't takes very long but it makes me extremely happy. And I'll try to respond to every review... :)**


	3. 3 No Hard Feelings!

I asked a friend to update this for me, because I got no internet where I am now (not that bad, I got a swimming pool and sun, so I'm ok with the internet-lessness... lol), so a special thanks to this certain friend of mine (you know you are). If you review I might even ask someone to update the next chapter before I come back, because it's nearly finished...

Anyways, enjoy reading and enjoy the summer... :D

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Crossing the Line – Chapter 3 No Hard Feelings?

_Seemed like her partner had found her and he sure as hell wasn't unknown to her._

Although Sydney was shocked to see the familiar face she didn't give her feelings away. She had become good at playing her part. Too good maybe.

Julia didn't hesitate or showed any other sign of confusion or recognizance. Instead she smiled slightly at the guy behind the bar, as if she didn't know and hate him. She reached confidently for her ordered drink again and took it from the surprised guy. He didn't seem to expect this reaction from her. But what did he expect? That she would blow her cover and acknowledge him? After all only one person knew about her not truly being Julia and that was Kendall, for everyone else she was Julia and even if she knew that someone (the person standing in front of her) didn't buy it, she wouldn't ever tell him he's right. That would be suicide, especially in this case.

"I gotta say, you're an improvement to the other barkeeper, who served here a few minutes ago. You're way nicer to look at." Julia said, like nothing out of the usual had happened, in her normal sexy voice. She cringed inwardly at her own words, they just sounded so wrong in her head, so absolutely NOT true. But Julia always spoke like that and in that tone, she wouldn't make an exception, not even for him, although she wanted to.

"Hello Julia. Thanks for the compliment, I'm flattered. My name is Julian Sark and I think I'm your partner." Sark said politely. He kept a straight face the whole time, not showing any confusion either, but somehow Julia just knew that he was indeed surprised – and that he didn't believe that she had been ever brainwashed.

"What a way to make contact. I guess much more blatantly and indiscreetly wasn't possible, was it?" Julia said snidely and annoyed. She knew she probably wasn't really fair to Sark, but come on, how could she ever be fair to him? She wanted to strangle him right there with her bare hands, she wouldn't even commit a crime after all. He was on the Top-Ten Most Wanted List in every damn country of the whole world. But it would have more than likely blown her cover and she couldn't risk that. So she had to play nice and work with him, but no one said that she had to be friendly or that she had to like him.

"Are you afraid darling? I heard so much about you and your abilities, but nobody told me that you're scared." Sark said teasingly. He shot Julia a blatant smile and seemed to be very happy about something. Julia wondered why in hell Sark could be happy about her snapping at him. But who was she to try to figure out what was on the mind of such a criminal jackass?

"First, I'm not your darling. Second I'm not afraid of anything, least of all you. Third, I simply hate working with dabblers." Julia sneered upset. How could this… guy dare to imply that she was afraid, of him! She had to fight the urge to kill him right there and he said she was afraid? Damn it!

"Oh, seems like I found a critical spot. I never assumed you were afraid of me through, Julia. You don't know me well enough for that. You're afraid of being made, of failing the mission. You really need to relax sometimes, you seem so tense. That can't feel good. And if it helps you in any way, I can assure you that I'm not a dabbler." Sark told Julia still smiling, obviously completely unimpressed by her cool behavior towards him. Little did Julia know that he was pretty interested in every little word she said. He took her rejecting demeanor as a proof for his assumption that Sydney Bristow hadn't ever been brainwashed. He knew that girl and he knew that she was far too good as an agent and way too stubborn to just give in like that. He knew that there was either some unconscious part of Julia who was still Sydney and who only waited to take control again, or Sydney had never stopped taking control and she was only playing Julia – very well as he had to admit, but he was the last to question her abilities as a spy. And he would figure out what exactly was going on in the next few days, after all he was a very gifted spy too.

Julia starred at Sark and his poker face incredulously. She tried hard to read him, but with every minute he was confusing her more. She had snapped at him and made pretty clear, that she was provoking him, but all he did was being polite and nice. What was wrong with that guy? Was he actually trying to be nice to get something from her or was this the real him?

_Stupid girl, of course he has a plan. People like him do NOTHING without a purpose. He's been most likely sent to gain my trust and to test me. To see if I'm really Julia or if there's some "Sydney" left inside of me. After all, he works for the Covenant. But... so do I somehow. And so do Mia and Lily and I kind of trust them. Wait. No I don't trust them, of course not. I can't. I just... came to believe that they aren't friendly on purpose, that's not trusting and so it's al__lowed, isn't it? Oh, I hate these lies. And I hate him that he makes me think about it._

"What I'm afraid of and what I'm not is none of your damn business. You sure act like a dabbler very well for someone who claims to not be one. But I guess you'll have the opportunity to prove what kind of an agent you are, considering I'm kinda forced to work with you. Besides, I think we should leave this poor excuse of a bar now, after all we have some work to do." Julia proposed to finally get away from Sark. She hated to have to sit right in front of him with having no chance to do something. She felt his eyes bore into her the whole time and for some unknown reason she found it hard to look at him and meet his gaze. Probably because she hated him so much and she didn't know if she could NOT show the anger and hate.

"You're right, we should leave. Let's go back to the hotel." Sark gave in. Again surprising Julia with not giving some smart-ass retort. But Sark wasn't out for a fight with Julia. He had always admired Sydney for her skills and beauty and he wanted to gain her trust. He wanted to gain her for him. He wanted her to love him and to be addicted to him. Not because he loved her, but because she could come in handy when he wanted to take over the Covenant. He would do what it takes to get Sydney's loyalty.

In front of Julia's hotel she stopped her car, climbed out and waited for Sark to come to her. She had been surprised when Sark hadn't asked her where she was heading or where they should meet or just anything at all. He had just gone to his car and had climbed in, leaving Julia to do the same. Then he had followed her until here, to her hotel. Sark parked right next to her car and walked over to her, a smirk on his face. The moment Julia saw this smirk she became already annoyed again, wondering what in hell was so funny this time.

"So, don't you have an own room? Because you sure as hell won't crash in mine, just in case you're still dreaming." Julia snapped when Sark waited for her to say something, still smirking the whole time.

"Oh, I would never think of asking you to share a room with me. I respect your need for privacy. No, I already did a little bit of research when I arrived in this interesting city and when I found your reservation for this hotel I thought I should get a room here too. I thought it would be easier this way, because we have some plans to work out and, just like you said, it's always work." Sark told her while he was trying not to laugh at Julia's nearly pouting face, it was too cute how she tried the whole time to upset him. Now she was probably offended, because she didn't succeed, and angry, because he was in the same hotel. But he didn't bother to hide his amusement very well, so Julia was just even angrier than before. But who cared?

"Nice. Research, right." She paused for a few moments and then she continued when he didn't say anything else. "You, thinking? Not a good idea. First you approach me so obviously that even a blind stupid idiot would recognize it, then you spent time on searching the same hotel, although you should know that it's just even more suspicious. Did you ever have something like an education or training or anything?" Julia bluffed sharply, upset at Sark's carelessness, but if she was honest, she was only out for Sark. So every little thing he did was automatically wrong to her. He just made it too easy to criticize him. Not that Sydney was complaining or anything…

"You know, from what I read in your file and from what I heard from my contacts, none of my sources ever told me what a real bitch you are. Quite the opposite in fact, they told me that you're a nice and funny girl that's good to work with. Sure you're Julia Thorne?" Sark asked now annoyed himself. He didn't like it when someone was criticizing him constantly, not even when it was Sydney, or Julia, or whoever.

"Know what's sad? When someone like you, who should have enough money to have some fun in his free time, spends his free time with doing research on his partner. Don't you think reading my freaking file would have been enough?"

"Oh my dear, I don't check on every partner. Only the interesting ones. Those who are worth my time. You should feel flattered about it." Sark said teasingly. It was so easy to push her buttons. But that was probably because she wasn't in a very good mood.

_She must really hate to be all nice to me. Well, at least that's a sign for her being the real Sydney, she's probably just acting the whole time. Why should she pick at me the whole time, if she wasn't Sydney?_

"Get a life, jerk." Julia snapped and rolled her eyes. Then she turned around and went in the hotel. She was only hoping that Sark had a room far, far away from hers. She rushed into the nearest elevator, silently hoping that Sark wouldn't make it for any reason. But he did, of course.

"Thanks, for waiting Julia. In case I haven't told you yet: We're neighbors, isn't that great?" He asked with a fake goofy smile and a equally fake dreaming voice. Julia rolled her eyes, how could he be that… that… that cocky and even kind of funny? She wanted to hate him, so why was he making it so hard to hate him?

_No, no, no. I DO hate him. He doesn't have to make it easy for me, I just DO HATE him. I'm just… irritated by his un-Sark-ly behavior, that's all. So I did think he'd be different. So what? That doesn't change anything about him. After all, I don't hate him for his supposedly bad behavior but for his actions, for him being a terrorist, for him threatening Will's life, for him working for my goddamn mother. For him standing for everything I hate__d. And still hate, of course._

"Whatever." Julia said when she left the elevator at her – and now Sark's too- floor. She was walking pretty fast, so she arrived at her room before he reached his. "I'm exhausted. We can make plans tomorrow. 'Night." Julia said without looking at him while unlocking her door. Not patient enough to wait for an answer she strode into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. Then she took of her coat and listened for a few moments, only relaxing a little when she heard another door shut. So he would actually leave her alone. Just what she needed.

She threw herself onto her bed and screamed in her pillow, releasing all her frustrations that way without anyone noticing or –more importantly- hearing it. Then she stood up again, tugging her hair back behind her ear (like she always did when she was nervous or just frustrating powerless like in this situation) and acting like nothing happened. She took out her secret CIA-cell and pressed the speed dial "1".

"Kendall." The person at the other end said evenly.

"Hello, it's me. I'm in my room and I just met my partner. It's Sark. Julian freaking Sark is my partner for this mysterious job. Damn it, I want to know what the hell is going on here, because it's getting crazier every minute. I feel like in a bad episode from this freaking twisted crime-series. It's ridiculous, out of all operatives my partner is Sark. This can't be a coincidence, so this must be some kind of test from the Covenant. Will they ever stop testing me? Besides, isn't it a risk to let Sark know that I'm alive? I mean that man's evil, not dumb. Aren't they afraid he could leak some information to the world?" Sydney was ranting. She knew how twisted and stupid this all sounded, but she couldn't stand not being able to do a thing about the whole damn situation.

"Sydney, calm down" Kendall tried. Sydney had allowed him at some point of their meetings that he could call her Sydney. It was easier to not forget Sydney when she heard her name sometimes. It reminded her of her old life, the person she used to be, the happy memories that were connected to this life, this person, this name.

"Look, I know you must be upset, but you can't do anything about it. You're right, this is probably some strange test and I don't know why they took that risk either. But I'll try to find out. You're our only hope to take down the Covenant, so you can't fail this mission. Because if you do, we'll have a threat, much bigger than the Alliance had ever been. And we can't afford another ten years till we'll be able to take that stupid organization down. So if you think you're made then you'll get the extraction right away. But if you think you can still make it, if you trust yourself to not let Sark get into your way, then please, try it. For your country and for every CIA agent, because if you fail, even more agents have to die."

"Wow, what a way to make me feel better. To know that I'm responsible for the faith o many good agents really helps me right now. Pressure feels so good, so why not add, or better triple it?" Sydney asked with a sigh. As if she didn't knew all of this already. She really didn't need Kendall to say it out loud.

"I'm sorry Sydney, I didn't mean to put you under even more pressure. I know it's hard for you. And I respect you for doing this job. But in the end it's your decision and I can't take it from you. When you say you can't take it anymore or that it's too dangerous I trust your judgment and you're out immediately. No one would ever blame you for not doing this till the end, because it really gets more twisted with every call you give me. So, what do you say? Try it or end it? It's up to you now." Kendall soothed her and stated.

He had really come to respect and like Sydney. Not every agent would have not just resisted torture and brain wash, but would have gone on with this cover, knowing that all her friends and relatives thought she were dead. Knowing that the people she loved were hurt and were moving on. Without her. They both knew, that when Sydney would get back to her life, there wouldn't be much to get back too. Kendall wished he could do something for this girl, but he knew he couldn't. He had just gotten the memo that Jack Bristow had been arrested as an enemy of the state. He had no idea yet how to tell her, how to not crush her world with this message. Kendall could only imagine how Sydney felt, he didn't know how much she could take anymore and at which point she would finally crack. But he was afraid, that this crack-point was near and hearing that her father was in prison for trying to help her, how Kendall heard, was something that would trouble her even more.

Not to even begin with the little chat Vaughn and he, Kendall, had just a few hours ago. Vaughn was asking about soon vacations for getting married to Lauren Reed, his new girlfriend. Kendall personally found it tasteless from Vaughn to even think about marriage so early after Sydney's "death". He had never thought very high of Vaughn, but now he was sure that this guy was low. He was sad for Sydney and was completely clueless how to tell her THAT.

"I'll do it. I'll make it through this shit, dead or alive, who cares. I don't know what the hell Sark is trying to pull of here, but I won't let him get into my way. Thanks for being honest and leaving me the choice Kendall. I really appreciate it. I gotta go now. I'll call again as soon as something happens!" The line went dead.

That was so Sydney-like. That was his agent. The agent he lied to the whole time. The best agent he ever met.

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Ok, that's it for now... You see, Sark made his appearence and Vaugh gonna be back in the game too soon, poor Syndey ;)... And I use "Julia" and "Sydney" variantly because I try to make the different feelings and thoughts and everything clear, those of Julia and those of Sydney, because they won't agree the whole story... :D Well, please tell me what you think!!!


	4. 4 Sydney? What happened?

So guys, here's the next chapter. Thanks for the awesome reviews I got on the last chapter. I really had a hard time writing this one, bad case of writer's block. So I hope it's not tooo bad, but I doubt that I'll do it any better if I rewrote it once again...

Responses:

**ali: **thanks for the review, and thanks for the idea, just what I needed to get some inspiration, I promise you Irina will make her appearances. How she'll react? Well, you'll have to stay with the story to find out ;)

Ok, here goes nothing.... **Reviews are always highly appreciated!  
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Crossing the Line

Chapter 4 - Sydney? What happened?:

Julia was woken up by a loud knock at her door the next morning. She groaned silently, slowly opening her eyes and adjusting them to the dim light that was coming through the shutters. It took her a few moments to figure out where she was and why she was in this cheap hotel room. The Covenant. Her death. Sark. Mission. _Right._

Sydney wanted to just go back to sleep again, postponing the problems and most importantly the dealing with them for a few more hours, but a second knocking at the door of her room made clear that sleeping in again wasn't a possibility.

"One moment. I'm right there!" Julia said loud enough to be heard on the other side of the door. She stood up and put on the morning robe of the hotel. She walked to the door and looked through the spy hole in the door.

"Who's there?" Julia asked with an innocent voice, already knowing that Sark was standing in front of her door. What a way to begin the day.

"It's me darling. So why don't you just –" Sark began but was interrupted when the door was suddenly opened and a very angry Sydney was cutting him off.

"I'm NOT your darling. For the last time. If you call me like that ever again I'll…"

"You'll what? Hate me even more?" Sark asked amused and not afraid in the slightest.

Julia realized her mistake; she was acting too much like Sydney. Damn it, if some other good-looking partner of hers had called her darling just for fun she would have been flattered and flirted a little bit at the least. She had a certain reputation and being overly aggressive wasn't part of it. Sark sure as hell knew it and would only take her behavior as a proof for her being Sydney.

"Why do you think I hate you?" Julia asked sweetly while wanting to smack this cocky grin from her partner's face. But if she had to be nice with Sark and flirt with him to maintain her cover she'd do it. She had told Kendall that she could and would do it, so she couldn't back out now. However, her will to not kill Sark during the next days had a hard time once again when Sark began to grin even wider.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you're picking on me the whole time?"

"I'm not."

"You are."

Sydney starred straight at Sark, not knowing what to do next. He was trying to provoke her and she couldn't let that happened. On the other hand it was personally bothering her to back down. But what choice had she?

"Whatever. Do you want anything else than insinuating that I hate you, although I don't even know you?" Julia had to fight a slight smile when she saw Sark's face. He was definitely taken aback by her words. Not surprising through, after all she was kind of giving in and tried to change the topic, but at the same time she was still insisting on her actual point of her NOT hating him or picking on him. Julia always had to have the last word. No matter what.

"Actually yes, I came here for business. We gotta make plans for tomorrow. Shall we go to my room or to yours?" Sark asked politely as always.

"Yours. I'll just change into something different than this robe and then I'll come over in, let's say 15 minutes?"

"Ok." Sark agreed and left without saying anything else. So Julia went back into her room too and got ready.

_Planning the mission with Sark, while he will observe every move I make and every__ damn thing I say for proofs of me still being me. And I didn't even have a coffee or just breakfast. Great, just great._

Quite some time later Julia and Sark were sitting on Sark's bed, looking together at a plan of a warehouse.

"Ok, as far as I know we gotta kill the person who enters this warehouse at 1 p.m. I still don't see for what we need to be two to do this job, but whatever. Maybe one of us should stay in a car nearby so that we can get away quickly. I guess that would be you then, missing all the fun. Not that I would mind." Julia said after seeing that the warehouse had none security or whatsoever. Not surprising considering it hadn't been used for years.

"Well, I got some more information than you do. And I will indeed stay outside to guarantee our escape, but I won't miss all the fun. Thanks for worrying about me through." Julia shot him a look and rolled her eyes at his comment, Sark smiled a little but continued as if nothing happened. "Two people will enter this warehouse at 1 p.m., a man and a woman. We gotta kill the woman, not the man. One of us, you, will wait inside of the house and kill the woman as soon as the other one, me, has killed the bodyguards who probably will be waiting outside the warehouse." Sark told Julia while looking through some papers of his.

"Why do you know more than I? Why do you have this freaking information and I don't?" Julia asked angry that Sark knew more than her.

"I don't know Julia. I can just tell you what I was told. I got no idea why they wanted you to know less than me. I'm sorry but you can't seriously be angry with me because THEY didn't tell you something." Sark said annoyed. It wasn't his fault that their bosses seemed to not trust Julia.

Julia knew that he was right and she also realized that she was indeed unfair. Sark had been nothing but truly polite to her and it would do no good if she took her anger about the Covenant out on Sark.

_Oh great, now I'm even beginning to have a bad conscience because of being rude to Sark. TO SARK OF ALL PEOPLE. What's wrong with me today? Yesterday I had no problem with being a bitch and today I'm nearly feeling sorry? Calm down Sydney, just concentrate on the word nearly and stay with it._

"I'm sorry, you're right. I just don't like it to be left in the dark about something. This whole mission is strange. First this stupid guy Farrell is asking me to go to this mission and threatens me to better not mess this up. Then I get a partner although it seemed like I wouldn't need one. And now I don't even have gotten all the information."

Sark hadn't expected that Julia would be friendly or even honest anymore. Her apology and her explanation didn't fit her other behavior. He sighed but nodded with a soft smile. A sign that he accepted her apology. How couldn't he? She was honest with him, also it was more than confusing for him. He thought he had figured her out, thought she was so unfriendly because she knew who he was, because she still was Sydney. But the Sydney he knew wouldn't just change her behavior that drastic. She might be less aggressive towards him, but not this friendly. The normal Sydney Bristow would have just said "sorry" or (more likely) "whatever" or something, but would never have explained something. Not to him.

_Maybe that's her plan through. Maybe she does things she wouldn't do to make me believe she' not her. Damn it, this is so fucking confusing!_

Later…

"Ok then, you'll wait inside of the building and I will hide on the outside. As soon as our victims arrive and enter the warehouse I'll take care of the bodyguards. Then you will kill the woman and let the man see you while you're escaping. He will know then that the Covenant was behind everything. When he checks up on you he will find his suspicions confirmed that you're Covenant. And our dear bosses will be satisfied." Sark summed up the result of their work of the last hour.

They had thought about where Julia would wait for the right moment and where he would hide. Julia had been surprised when Sark had told her that the Covenant wanted her to kill the woman, but she hadn't refused to do it. Sark had said that probably the man already knew Julia from her other missions and so he would know right away that the Covenant was responsible. This theory had a few weaknesses, one being that if Sark killed the woman it would be pretty obvious that the Covenant was behind it all too, but neither Julia nor Sark spoke their doubts out loud. Both thought that it had something to do with Julia actually being Sydney. But they of course couldn't talk about it because Sydney couldn't and wouldn't admit anything.

At noon Julia and Sark arrives at the warehouse. They parked the black van between two other warehouses, well hidden for searching eyes. There were an old fabric which hadn't been used for years and five warehouses which had belonged to the fabric once. All together it looked like a little village – a ghost village.

"It's a nice place, quiet and private, don't you think?" Sark asked when they were climbing out of the van and walking to the warehouse the victims would use.

"Oh yeah, now you're talking about it I see it too. I think I'll spend my next holidays here! I mean it's so beautiful and everything!" Julia said sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't notice that it was bitchy time again. Sue me for trying to make some conversation with the ice-lady." Sark retorted annoyed. He wondered what was wrong with Sydney, she had been quite nice the whole day, except for a few times when she snapped and now she was all aggressive all over again. He just didn't see a pattern, or any reason for that matter, in her behavior and that confused him.

"The ice-lady. What a compliment, you REALLY know how to make a girl feel good. And you're still surprised why I'm snapping at you?"

"Whatever. At least now you're admitting it."

"Admitting what?"

"That you're snapping at me, two hours ago you still denied it. I guess that's a progress?"

"Stop talking bullshit. I'm sorry if I have to burst your bubble, but not every girl falls for your "charms", I'm not, for example, if you haven't got that yet. So excuse me when I don't think you're all funny and whatever-else-your-used-to!"

"Ouch, that really hurt my ego. I always thought I was irresistible and the Casanova of the 21th century."

"Save your sarcasms for someone who cares about it."

"Aye aye madam!"

"Just shut up already. You can just stay here, you got nothing to do inside anyway, so please give me a rest while I prepare everything. Just tell me when you see them coming." Julia said and went into the warehouse, letting Sark standing in front of it. He smiled and went away to his planned position, he loved pissing Julia off. Although she was one of the few persons who pissed him off too. About most people Sark simply didn't care enough to get upset about them.

"Ok, so I guess we'll do what we always do, that guy has to be dead before he can talk about anything." The man said while he was coming out of a dark limo, followed by a blonde woman. Four bodyguards were escorting them from the car to the entrance. There the man ordered them to wait outside and to be alerted, if anyone would be trying to interrupt or to get into the warehouse he should be killed immediately.

The woman didn't seem to find these orders strange in the slightest; instead she just walked into the warehouse with her head held high. The man followed her leisurely.

Sark observed the whole seem and didn't move until the man and the woman had vanished in the warehouse. "I guess that's my cue then…" He murmured and loaded his gun.

Inside the warehouse Julia was sitting in the roof beam, her guns ready next to her. Sark had told her 60 seconds ago that a black limo was approaching and had informed her that he would go on radio silence. Sydney had bite back a "thank you" or "finally". She didn't want to overdo it, besides she had the strange feeling that the more time she spend with Sark, the less she was picking on him because of her hatred for him. She was rather giving caustic remarks because there were moments she forgot that she hated him. When they had planned there were moments where she had just talked to someone, not to the hated terrorist Sark.

Julia heard the motor of the limo approaching and finally being switched off. She heard voices and footfalls. Slowly but with experienced and confident motions she was picking up her gun, setting up the aim, loading it and aiming for the door, determined to not let the victim out of her aim for one second after she entered the warehouse.

She wondered for one moment when she had become so cold, when had been the first time that she wasn't feeling very bad to the murder she was about to commit? She really didn't know.

_I guess it happened somewhere along the way. Like the most changes, nothing changes from one moment to the other, the important things which last were these who were growing slowly. But this attitude of mine shouldn't last, after all I'm killing a person. Even if she's not innocent, what I don't really know, but what is most likely, it's me who's pulling the trigger. For my country. More or less._

But before Sydney could contemplate further about whether what she was doing was right or not, the door of the warehouse was opened. A blonde woman strode in confidently and Julia's first impression was that she and that woman were alike. That woman had the same self-confident pace Julia had too. Something about her was strangely familiar and Sydney was pretty sure she knew that face from… somewhere. She just couldn't put it into the right place.

Once again she was distracted by a person who entered the warehouse, this time it was the man. Another well known man. Sloane. Arvin Sloane, the devil himself.

_So much about that woman being innocent. Whoever deals with Sloane isn't innocent in the least._

Sydney was tempted to shoot Sloane right in his damn cocky lying face, but she restrained. She knew there were too much at stake to ruin everything now. She would hunt Sloane down some day and then the new supposedly "benefactor" would finally get what he deserved.  
Julia aimed for the woman again and concentrated on the situation beneath her.

"So, you said you had him under control, but yet he was talking to Kendall a few days ago privately." Sloane said with disdain in his voice, he was obviously not content about something.

The woman rolled her eyes and said slightly annoyed: "With all due respect, he suspects nothing. I haven't given him any reason. Maybe he was just talking about a nightmare? It would fit with him. He's weak, even if he finds out, he won't be a problem, he will confront me before ratting on me, you know honor and wounded pride and all that stuff. It's all he has. Let's better talk about the real problem. One of your people made a mistake and now you're searching for someone to blame. They know there's a mole and they won't need too long to find out it's in our bureau. How in hell should I get out of this? My behavior won't withstand a closer investigation without some very good excuses."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of this in time. If you say that there's no threat to your cover we'll trust you. But be careful, the Covenant doesn't forgive mistakes that easily."

"Yes sir. Here's the package that I was ordered to give to you. Some Rambaldi artifact."

"Julia? I got everything done out here. I'm waiting for you in the car." Sark told Julia about her earpiece. She nodded although no one could see it. She actually wanted to listen a little longer, because she was curious about what Sloane and the woman were talking, but she knew her instructions.

Just when Julia wanted to pull the trigger and end the job, suddenly a picture shot through her mind. She remembered where she had seen the woman. Together with Vaughn, the last weekend in L.A. But what was she doing here? Wasn't she CIA?

_Great, now I get to kill his new girlfriend. The wish of every ex, right? Well, I guess that will make him hate me forever. On the other side, he thinks I'm freaking dead. _

"Julia? Everything's alright? Do you need back up?" Sark asked through the mic. Julia was ripped out of her thoughts. She had a job to do.  
"No, everything's fine. I'm… I'm right there." She murmured and aimed again at the girlfriend of the love of her life.

She pulled the trigger and shot the woman three times. A perfect triangle, just like she had been trained to. Sydney watched the woman freeze in place and then fall slowly to the ground like in slow-motion. Sloane was looking up, searching for the shooter, already reaching for his own gun. She stood up and drew his eyes on her. She was satisfied to see the surprise and fear in them. She still didn't understand why the Covenant had given her that assignment when Sloane and the woman were working for them, but in this moment she was grateful for the job. Grateful to get the chance to scare Arvin Sloane.

Julia grabbed her things and jumped out of the next window, a slim rope keeping her from crashing to the ground. A few meters above the ground she cut the rope right over her shoulder with a knife and ran to the track where Sark was already waiting. She climbed in the car and Sark started the engine immediately. Then Julia had a meltdown and the tears began to fall down her cheeks. What had she done?! How would she explain THAT to Kendall? What would Vaughn think of her if he ever find out? And what in hell had Sloane and that woman been talking about? A mole in the CIA?

* * *

Sark was looking shocked at the crying woman next to him. "Sydney? What happened?"

* * *

Well, that was that chapter. Who of you saw that coming? Lauren and Sloane together and Sydney got the assignment to kill her... And she doesn't even know that Lauren and Vaughn were about to marry. You want to know what happens next and what's about Sark and Sydney? Review in order to get me to update faster... :D Tell me what you think, pretty pretty please!


	5. 5 A promise,a promotion& two old friends

Crossing the Line – Chapter 5

They had been on the road for over an hour. One hour since they left the warehouse. 45 minutes since they had been sure there were no followers. 59 minutes Sydney had spend sobbing next to Sark, shaking with arms crossed in front of her chest, holding herself tightly.

Sark had been throwing looks at her constantly, he had no clue what had happened or what made Sydney break down, but he was terrified. Terrified of how much he cared about Sydney. In the beginning it had just made his plan easier, but now he wasn't thinking about the plan but about her. Not what he was used to feel.

When they arrived at the cheap hotel they stayed in, he retarded hard. He decided in a split second to not give Sydney the space she indirectly asked for. She would probably hate him later, but he couldn't just leave her alone this night.

So he sat there next to the completely broken Sydney and was determined for the first time in his life to do something that wouldn't gain him anything.

He looked at her and sighed. Then he turned fully to her and rubbed her back soothingly, she didn't react to allergic to his touch which surprised him, but he put it off to her condition.

He had asked her already what was going on, but she had – big surprise- not answered him. But he couldn't help himself but asking once again, playing his last joker he still had.

"Sydney? What happened?"

Sydney stirred, a pretty lame reaction compared to what Julia would have normally done if Sark had called her Sydney. Sark sighed and already thought about giving in and forgetting his good intentions, he couldn't force her to open up to him.

"He won't forgive me this." Sydney suddenly murmured.

"What? Who won't forgive you what?"

"He… I killed her. I knew who she was but I killed her. He loved her. I killed her. I'm a monster."

"No, no you're not a monster. You were just doing your job. Who did you kill? Who was that woman, Sydney?"

"I don't know, but she's his girlfriend. He moved on and I killed her. He'll hate me."

"Who?"

"Vaughn." Sydney whispered silently. Sark was taken aback by the desperation in her words and her tone. This wasn't Sydney Bristow nor Julia Thorne, this was a broken girl who was overwhelmed by life. Sark felt the sudden urge to protect her, to take her tormenting pain away and to kill Michael Vaughn. Well, the last wish wasn't something all that new, he had always been jealous at how devoted Sydney had been to Vaughn and it seemed like that hasn't changed.

"He won't hate you. Besides, he's not worth you. You're too good to him. And this woman was there with Sloane. So something's gotta be wrong there." Sark tried to reason with Sydney, when she just cried harder he watched her helplessly, not knowing what to do, finding himself in a situation he had never been in before. Instinctively he took her into his arms and felt surprisingly good feeling her in his arms. She seemed so fragile and so unbelievable beautiful to him.

Sark carried her in his arms, bridal style, until he was standing into her room. He contemplated on searching in her pockets for the keys, but then he decided that wasn't necessary since they'd have to leave in the early morning anyway so he just kicked in the door and brought Sydney carefully to her bed. He laid her down and covered her up with a blanket. He wanted to leave when Sydney spoke, barely loud enough to call it a whisper:

"Don't leave me, please."

Sark turned around to her, watched her intently to figure out if she really meant what she had said. But she was still crying and she could have just said what she did, thinking about Vaughn. But Sark couldn't leave now, not after she asked him to stay.

So he stayed the whole night, sitting at her side and comforting her as good as he could.

When Julia woke up the next morning she didn't know why she was feeling that sore and why her eyes hurt really bad. She felt someone next to her and was horrified when she recognized Sark sleeping next to her. But then she remembered what happened.

She groaned and wanted nothing but falling asleep again and never wake up. She had blown her cover, Vaughn would hate her as soon as he would find out she was alive and the murder of his girlfriend and it seemed like Sloane was making her life hell once again.

"You're awake." Sark's husky voice interrupted Sydney's thoughts.

"Yeah. I am." She said, not knowing how she should react.

"You're ok again?"

"I'm fine. Thanks." Julia answered cold and distanced.

Sark sighed, he had expected something like this. But her unfriendly behavior bothered him none the less. "Sydney, you don't need to play some act for me. I want to know how you really feel. I already know you're Sydney, so there's nothing you need to hide anymore. I won't tell anybody what you told me last night or what you'll ever tell me. I'm on your side."

"Call me stupid, but I don't believe you!" Julia snapped.

"Sydney…"

"Julia!"

"Sydney, I won't tell anybody what I know about you. You will learn to trust me. I never saw you as an enemy, you were the one who was always out for me because your stupid government told you so." Sark said in a nonchalant, matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh spare me! You're a terrorist, on the most wanted list of every damn country on the whole world. We're bound to be enemies and I don't trust my enemies. Sorry to disappoint you."

"And what about your mother? If everything's black and white for you, why don't you hate her then? Don't tell me you do, because I know you don't. Besides, I thought you learned by now that there's not just good and bad in this world. Look at you now, you're an operative of the Covenant, an international terrorist organization and you're killing for a living. Maybe you haven't chosen your way into this situation, but you're in it."

Julia opened her mouth to say something, but she found no words. What he said was too much of the truth that she could just brush it away. Secretly these thoughts had kept her mind occupied the last month. The only thing Sark didn't know was that she was a double agent for the CIA. What made her having these thoughts so dangerous and wrong. She couldn't begin to think that way, because she wasn't really a terrorist.

"Don't look that angry, it's the truth and you have to face it sooner or later. However, this truth can't be that new to you. I know that you made friends with some other agents in Rome and I'm pretty sure you're doubting everything you used to think by now. Maybe you don't want to admit it, but you can't deny that you like these agents, although they are bad guys, and I'm sure you like the life of yours too. Because no matter what you say, you like freedom and control, and that's what makes you like the life of a bad guy."

"Shut the hell up! You have no damn idea of what I feel or think. And if you really think I like killing people or being a terrorist than you're even crazier than I thought you are!" Julia denied icily. She would rather die than admit that his words were kind of true.

Suddenly Sark's cell rang and they both stopped arguing. Sark picked up the call and talked for a few minutes while Julia was sitting in the bed, lost in her own thoughts.

"Sydney" Julia shot him an angry glare. "Ok, Julia, that was one of my bosses and I got another job to do. Means I need to leave in an hour."

"Thank god." Julia said spiteful. Sark rolled his eyes at her comment, knowing she was probably just scared and angry. More angry than scared through, after all this was Julia Thorne, aka Sydney Bristow.

"Thanks for this warm good-bye." Sark began sarcastically. "You might not believe me, but I promise you, I won't tell on you. But I want you to do something for my silence."

"Who saw that coming? Spill you son of a bitch!" Julia said frustrated with her situation, knowing that Sark had now control. Although she had to admit that worrying about Sark and being angry at him was better than thinking about what she had done yesterday.

"I want you to try to trust me." Sark said calmly, ignoring her comments.

"What?"

"You heard me perfectly well."

"Fine. I'll try, it's not like I have a choice or something." Julia said when she had recovered from her surprise and had her defenses back up.

"Well then I guess this is it for now. I hope we'll see each other again soon. Hopefully you'll be trusting me then." Sark stood up and left the room.

"You wish!" Julia murmured, knowing that Sark heard her.

Then she laid back down again. Now that Sark was away and her guard wasn't needed anymore the panic from last night came back.

"Oh god, I killed her…" she whispered, still not being able to comprehend what she did. What it would do to Michael.

_But what the hell was she doing there with Sloane? If she's working for or with him, than maybe Michael's in danger or the whole CIA in L.A. Not that it's making what I did any better, but there's gotta be a reason for her being there, doesn't it?_

One week later Julia strode into Farrell's office self-confidently as usual. Farrell was tiping something on his PC and looked up mildly surprised when the woman came in. She hadn't found it necessary to knock, what was a clear sign of disrespect.

"Miss Thorne. Good to see you. I heard the mission went well."

"Yes indeed, it did. No problems at all."

"Nice work. So you're back from your vacation? I have to admit I didn't expect you back that soon."

"I was bored, I like my job, so I'm back." Julia replied shortly, not giving away any emotion.

"Oh, I understand. Where have you been?"

"I don't exactly get in how far this is any of your concern, but I've been enjoying the sun at the coast." Julia answered sweetly, shooting Farrell an icy glare.

"I see, someone doesn't like talking politely."

"I'm here to do my job, you're my boss not my BFF, so why don't you just tell me what you want me to do next."

"Ok, ok. I get it. You're not one for small talk. Well, there is indeed a job for you, but you still have a few days." Farrell said, not longer friendly and more businesslike. Julia rolled her eyes, she knew that he was being that vague at purpose.

"Any details already? What kind of a job is this?"

"I will leave this office tomorrow; I'm getting another position into this organization. The Covenant's content with your work until now and they want you to run this office."

Julia looked at him stunned. They wanted her to be the boss of the whole Rome-cell? Was Farrell making fun of her or what?

_But if he was making fun of me he wouldn't __be so bothered by it. It's obvious that he doesn't like me being his replacement. Well, I guess that means they finally trust me. That's a good thing, I hope._

"You're serious?" Julia couldn't bite back that question, but Farrell's whole behavior screamed to mistrust him. Like expected Farrell was getting annoyed now.

"Yes, I am serious. I'm always serious when it involves work."

"Ok. Then I guess I'll be here in three days, right?" Julia asked getting the impression that Farrell wanted her out of his office. To be true, there was nothing she wanted to do more than leaving too.

"Right. You'll be instructed then. Good-bye."

"Bye."

Julia left the office and greeted a few of her friends while leaving. When she arrives at her car, she drives home, but she doesn't leave the car there.

_What's wrong with me? I should be happy, I got a new position, I'll be even more important for Kendall and I'll be out of this shit even sooner. Why do I feel so alone?_

Julia sighed. She was confused, the whole last week she had had this strange feeling in her stomach. And she had felt more left alone than in the months before. In the beginning she had brushed it off, blaming the fact that Sark knew now and that she only feared him telling on her. But he hadn't said a thing and she still felt left alone. She had contacted Kendall and he had reassured her, that Vaughn didn't know anything and probably never would.

Still, it was like she missed Sark, just because he was someone where she didn't have to act anymore. Because he knew and didn't make her feel bad about it. He even had comforted her when she had had her breakdown and had been nothing but totally nice and sweet to her. But she couldn't really miss a worldwide known terrorist, right? _Right._

Julia didn't feel like going into her big empty house right now and so she started the engine again and drove away, heading for a little cozy bar she knew.

_I got three more days of, so I can drink as much as I want to. Kendall won't need me the next couple of days either. Maybe I should call Mia or Lily or even Bella, they won't mind joining me and my little getting-drunk-session. But no, better not, I guess I need to get myself together before I get drunk around other Covenant agents. I guess._

She entered the little bar and walked towards the counter. She knew the barkeeper and so she wouldn't have to put up with talking if she didn't want to. Although Pete (the barkeeper) might ask something this time, because she had been there a few days ago after coming back from the mission AND before she went on the mission, after her weekend in L.A..

There weren't many people in the bar and only two other guys sat in front of the counter, their backs to Julia, both a beer in front of them. Something about them seemed familiar to Julia.

_Oh no, please don't let them be some guys from work, I really need a break._

One of the guys turned a little so Julia could see his profile. She stopped in dead tracks and hid behind a pillar. It couldn't be HIM. She tried to get a good look again, without being recognized herself and her worries confirmed themselves. There were two guys sitting who she knew pretty well. Or better: Who SYDNEY knew very well.

Eric Weiß and Michael Vaughn. Sydney's first impulse was to run to Vaughn, hug and kiss him and to never let him go. But the last months and those she spend as a prisoner of the Covenant had trained her to suppress her reflexes and think first.

_What in hell are they doing here? Is this some kind of stupid coincidence or do they know? Are they waiting for me? Wait, no, they can't be waiting because no one knew I was coming here, even I didn't know it 30 minutes ago. And if they knew, why didn't they come to my house? Why didn't Kendall tell me a thing about them being here?_

Julia left the bar without being noticed. She still couldn't decide if she should be confused, happy or angry. But one thing she knew. This wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't the plan.

She drove home and grabbed her CIA-cell phone while walking into the house. Kendall better had an explanation and it better be a good one.

"Kendall."

"What the hell are you trying to pull here off? What are they doing in Rome?..."


	6. 6 Let the games begin

CtL- Chap 6

„Kendall."

"What the hell are you trying to pull here off? What are they doing in Rome? You better tell me right now what's freaking going on and have a very good excuse, because if you don't… well, you better have one." Sydney started ranting, panic obvious in her voice.

"Sydney, Sydney! Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down. I won't calm down if you're not doing some good explaining."

"Sydney, what are you talking about? What happened?"

"What happened? Are you stupid or trying to make fun of me? Michael Vaughn and Eric Weiss are here in Rome. I saw them and don't tell me this is a coincidence, I don't believe in such things! I want a good explanation and you to tell me that the both will take the next flight home. Because there's no way I can face them right now. I just killed his freaking girlfriend for god's sake!"

"What are you talking about? What are they doing in Rome? Are you sure it's them?" Kendall began to sound suspicious and surprised. Something wasn't right here and he didn't know what it was-yet.

"Of course I'm sure it's them idiot. Who do you think you're talking to?"

"I'm sorry Sydney. I know you're not stupid and I believe you that you didn't mistake two people for your closest friends. It's just that I honestly have no idea what they are doing in Rome. I don't know about an assignment in Rome damn it." Kendall assured Sydney, sounding pretty confused and upset himself. If the situation hadn't been that damn confusing Sydney would have laughed at Kendall's kind of helpless tone.

"Then you'll better figure out, because this is creeping me out. I just can't do this anymore, I mean I killed his girlfriend and now I got this strange promotion and… Please, I just need to know what's going on." Sydney said, forcing herself to remain calm.

"Wait a minute, what promotion are you talking about?"

"Well, this Farrell guy told me that for in three days on I'd be the boss of the Covenant cell in Rome. Means the boss of the office. Farrell seems to get another position and since I done my homework so well… I mean, doesn't everyone dream of killing his ex's new girlfriend and getting a promotion for it?" Sydney said somewhat bitter.

"Sydney, this is like our lucky day! This is going to get you even more access and they finally seem to trust you. Don't you see what much of a progress this is?"

"I know, whatever. All I care about right now is what Vaughn and Weiss are doing here. There's gotta be a reason for this. Maybe they investigated and found me?"

"I don't think so, believe me, I investigated you myself for months and I had given up long enough when you called me. Besides, you have a new hair color an stuff, they won't recognize you except they see you right in front of them and in person. Give me a few minutes, I'll call you again when I checked with some people, ok?"

"Yeah, ok. But don't take too long, this is driving me crazy." Sydney sighed and hung up. She paced in front of the phone, sitting down and standing up again. She couldn't get her mind of the fact that her best friend and the love of her life were only a few streets away, sitting in her favorite bar.

_What are they doing here? This is so way outta control, they were never supposed to come here damn it. What if he found out? What if he knows I killed his girlfriend, this Lauren woman. He'll hate me. I know it, no matter what Kendall's said. So maybe he'll not hate me, because it was my job after all and like Kendall said, I can't really be blamed, but he'll never want to see me again ever. How could he after I killed the person he loved?! Shit, I want to know what's going on or I'll go crazy for real._

When the phone ringed again Sydney picked up immediately and didn't bother to ask who was calling.

"What did you find out?"

"Didn't someone taught you to not pick up the phone this way?" Kendall asked clearly upset about something but Sydney had a feeling like it wasn't the way she picked up the phone that upset him so much.

"Don't use that tone on me right now, Kendall. I'm not in the mood for any lectures by you. I want to know what you found out and don't say nothing."

"Don't dare me." Kendall tried to lighten the mood, seeming to actually have something like humor, but Sydney wasn't in the mood for something like that either and so she just growled very un-ladylike in the phone. "No need to get upset. I know why they're there." Kendall paused because someone was apparently talking to him. "Wait a moment." Sydney rolled her eyes, this guy really had nerves to tell her to wait.

"Spill!" She nearly yelled in the phone. She grinned inwardly when she imagined how Kendall was startling at her loud voice yelling right into his ears. She didn't like to be ignored, she didn't like to be upset, so she reminded people of it. A habit she had picked up from Julia. You know, payback's a bitch.

"Ok, you have to know that we have a new director here in L.A. office. Or better, a second director. Gordon Brown. He and I usually split the work and everything until Langley is finally tranferring one of us, hopefully him, to another office. The problem is that we don't really need two directors and he's not very cooperating, you know, that's why I knew nothing about your friends being in Rome. Seems like your last job for the Covenant has been recorded by a security camera in the building. It's poor quality because of not really being checked for years, but Marshall found it somehow, more or less coincidently I heard, but with Marshall you never know. Anyways, you haven't been made, if you were afraid of this. They only know the name of your alias, to say it in another way; they suspect Julia Thorne to be the killer. No one's heard from Sloane, but since he's on the video too, they are searching for him too. From what I heard agent Vaughn and Weiss are in Rome to infiltrate the Covenant, because they think it's behind the assassination."

"What? Oh my god, this can't be true. Infiltrating? That means they'll try to get into the office and I can't avoid them there, they'll recognize me as Julia Thorne. Damn it. You gotta get them off the job." Sydney said angry and slightly desperate.

"That won't be that easy, I'm afraid. As I mentioned, Brown's no one to talk to that easily, he won't just call his agents back for no reason and I doubt that Vaughn will just back off no matter what the orders are. You know, personal reasons and stuff."

"What am I supposed to do then? Just wait for them to show up? Vaughn's going to blow my cover if he sees me. I mean he thinks I'm dead and then he finds out I'm fucking alive, an international terrorist, oh, and on top of that I killed his girlfriend in what seemed like cold blood. He even got a very nice video from the last part. You gotta call them and tell them what's going on, they might still hate me after it, but they hopefully won't blow my cover." Sydney suggested defeated, because she knew Vaughn would hate her. No matter what Sark said, she couldn't blame him for moving on when she was supposedly dead. And she had taken that away from him. She remembered how she felt when Danny and even Noah died, Vaughn had been her everything after it and if she imagined someone would kill him… She could never forgive that person. No matter if he loved her back or not, he was her soul mate.

"No, I won't do that. We'll see what they are doing in Rome first. We can't risk blowing your cover. If you're made not only your life is at stake, but the life of other agents who are trying everyday to bring down this organisation. We already had this discussion when you met Sark. If they try to blow your cover, you'll just act like you don't understand what they are talking about; the Covenant will probably trust you."

"But I can't-"

"Yes you can, and you'll have to. This is a direct order. We can't risk blowing your cover, do you think I went through all this trouble here to not let ANYONE know about you, just to let this get messed up now? No way, you won't tell anyone. Are we clear Sydney?"

"Yeah, of course. Nice you make it sound like I have a choice." Sydney said sarcastically.

"Did I? I'm sorry. This time you don't." Kendall said, sounding as pissed off as Sydney was. He knew it wasn't easy for her, but he didn't want to get blamed for saying, or ordering, the obvious.

"Wanna know what YOU skipped in training? Sarcasm. Look it up, might be helpful." She snapped and hung up without waiting for a reply. She couldn't believe it. Kendall, her only true friend during the last months was asking her to lie to Vaughn and Weiss. To face them and play a killer. How could she do that? How was she supposed to take the looks on their faces, surprise, shock, disgust, hate?!

Sydney groaned and threw a glass from the table in front of her straight at the wall. That helped a bit. But way not enough.

_Three days later…_

Julia sat in her office looking through the new stuff on her new desk, trying to adjust herself to her new position. However, she couldn't help but always drift off to thinking about the little run in with Vaughn and Weiss three days ago. She hadn't seen or heard from them since and so she was half hoping that they left Rome, but she knew it was stupid to believe it. What bothered her the most was not knowing what was going on.

Julia shook her head softly and sighed. She really needed to concentrate on this paperwork, because she would get into trouble if she didn't know what her new job included.

Today she had three dates, one with two transferred Covenant operatives from an foreign cell, from France if she remembered right, and then one with another high positioned operative. The confusing thing was that she couldn't find any name for the last one, she didn't even have a time for when he or she would arrive.

Someone knocked at her door and Julia was glad about the distraction. "Come in!" She said loudly.

"Hello, Miss Thorne, the two agents from France are waiting for you." An agent Julia didn't know by name said timidly. Julia smiled softly, her reputation was getting the best of her again. In the beginning she had been very cold and distanced, but after she had had a certain reputation and knew the Covenant trusted her, she had begun to find some friends and be a little more friendly from time to time.

"Thanks. Send them in please." She said politely and with a smile. She didn't want everyone to fear her, respect was necessary, but fear wasn't.

A few minutes later there was again a knock at the door and again she asked whoever stood in front of the door to come in. She didn't look up, but she heard from the sounds of the footsteps that the two French agents just entered her office.

"Sit down please. Just one moment." She said sounding occupied.

"Of course, Miss Thorne. Take your time." A horrible familiar voice said. Vaughn's voice. Sydney would recognize it between thousand other voices and now he was here, talking to her. And somehow not talking to her.

_Damn it, I should have known. Two agents from France, who is the dabbler in here?_

Although Sydney didn't want to look up to her old best friends, Julia knew she had to eventually. But if she looked up, looked them in the eyes, they would know who she was. What she had done.

_At least we're alone here, no one can see their reaction to my face. Maybe they won't even recognize me at first, after all my hair's blonde and everything about me changed, even the way I walked had been "brainwashed" out of me._

Julia finally looked up and faced Vaughn and Weiss for the first time since what seemed like forever. Weiss had the beginnings of a beard. Hell, a beard. It looked so weird that Julia starred for a moment before she dared to look over to Vaughn. He hadn't changed much, but he wore glasses, those she already knew from other missions.

"Buongiorno. You must be agent Pierre Edmond" She made short eye-contact with Weiss, then she looked over to Vaughn. "And agent André Dupont from France. Welcome in this office. Reading through your files I see that you're capable agents and I'm glad to have you in Rome. You're transferred here because you two wished so, right?" Julia asked as if there was nothing new, she was actually more or less just repeating what she had heard from Farrell and his precursor when they welcomed new agents. She had tried to focus on her words, but the confusion, surprise, shock, even hope, she saw in the eyes of her friends was nearly too much for her. She knew it wouldn't take much longer until the surprise and hope (that word pained her, because she knew they were hoping for one moment to have their friend back) would change into disgust, hate and disdain. And then their faces would go back to the mask, that every agent normally had during undercover mission, which hided their emotions. Julia didn't know what she feared more, seeing hate and disdain in their eyes or seeing nothing.

"Yes, ehm, Miss Thorne. The wife of my friend André here died a few weeks ago and we both wanted to change the office for far too long, so we decided to just do it."

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss agent Dupont. But you chose good coming to Rome, this city is beautiful and I'm sure you won't regret it. I literally fell in love with this city when I first came here." Julia said in a fake cherish tone. It was hard to maintain Julia with the two people that meant most to her sitting right in front of her.

When neither Weiss nor Vaughn seemed to be able to talk Julia said, still not looking at them:  
"So maybe I should show you around the office now. And then you can take the rest of the day off and see the city, ok?"

Weiss and Vaughn both nodded, by now they had banned nearly every emotion from their faces. Since Julia hadn't looked at them during the last minutes she had never seen hate or something, but seeing now their closed off faces, knowing that they were shutting her out from now on, hurt her beyond words.

_Guess I have an answer, not seeing their feelings, being shut out is worse than seeing hate or whatever._

Julia walked with the two following her through the office and introduced them to a few agents, showing them where their desks were. She nearly smiled happily when Weiss told her to call them both at their surrname, but then she realized it was probably only to gain her trust.  
"Ok, so these two desks are yours. I think the everyday routine will be more or less the same as you know it from France. The assignments will be given to you mostly by me and in the briefings. If you have any questions or problems, you can ask some of the agents I introduced you to, for example Mia, she's a good friend of mine and has been working here for years. Or you can just ask me, that's what I'm here for after all."

Weiss threw Vaughn a look and Sydney knew that he was trying to get Vaughn to say something. In fact Vaughn hadn't said a damn word to her or at all since the both entered her office. He had a emotionless face and seemed to have lost his voice.

"Well, me and André here, we'll live, I mean the french office back home was similar to this. But thanks anyway, if there's anything we'll ask. And-"Weiss stopped suddenly midsentence and starred at something behind Julia.

Before Julia could turn around she felt two arms from behind her coming around her waist.

"Hey Jules, how are you?" Sark's well sounding voice came from behind her. Sydney froze at first, it was weird to have Sark hugging her from behind and Vaughn standing in front of her, then anger washed over her. What was this guy thinking?

"Hello Sark, I'm fine. How are you? Ehm, Pierre, André, please excuse us for a moment." Julia said sweetly, then pulling Sark with her to her office.

"What in hell were you thinking?" Julia hissed at him as soon as the door was closed.

"What Syd, not glad to see me again? I'm deeply hurt." Sark said with a grin on his face.

"Don't get all innocent with me! What was that out there?"

"Well, I figured since Vaughn and you weren't looking very reunited, so I thought I was doing you a favor. This way he'll stay away from you. From what I saw you wouldn't want to be much around him." Sark said the smile slightly fading.

"Damn it Sark, stay the hell away from me. He doesn't know I'm still Sydney. He and Weiss are probably here to infiltrate the Covenant and from what I saw they didn't know I was Julia Thorne. And now you're coming and act like we're a couple. You of all people." Julia explained, hating not to be able to tell him everything, that she exactly knew what their mission was and that she wasn't really a terrorist. But of course she couldn't tell him, why would she anyway, he was the enemy after all.

"Sydney, don't you get it? I was doing you a favor. What were you planning to do? Tell him you're still you and that you stayed with the Covenant the whole time, although you haven't been brainwashed? That you still love him but killed his new girlfriend? Damn it, I saw what the mere thought of him finding out did to you. You broke down and cried the whole night. It wasn't nice to watch, you know, because I wasn't able to do a damn thing. You might not like it, but you need to distance yourself from him, it might hurt him in the beginning, but in the end it's better, especially for you. Sydney, you gotta finally face it, he HAS moved on. He freaking had a few month after your death, he hadn't just gotten over it but already had a new girlfriend. From what I know your fiancé was killed too, how long did you take to begin a new relationship? I somehow doubt it was less than a year." Sark nearly yelled, trying to get some sense into Sydney. She was just standing there, shocked and unable to say something at this unexpected outburst.

"See, you got nothing to say, so I take it that you didn't jump into a new relationship after his death. I came here today to congratulate you for your promotion and to see how you're doing. If I upset you, I'm sorry, but I just wanted to do what I thought was best. I'm going, you got my number if anything comes up." Sark said and left. He didn't really know where his words came from either. He was surprised with himself, he never loses control and he certainly never did something just to help someone or explained it afterwards.

Julia was left alone in her office and still couldn't really get her head around what just happened. Sark's words had sounded so right in some way, but on the other side so wrong too. She had felt way too comfortable and not shocked when Sark had put his arms around her and she found herself wanting to believe in what Sark said. She had begun doubting Vaughn since the moment Sark first talked to her about him, after she killed Vaughn's girlfriend. And in a strange way his words really made sense.

_Maybe I really need to get over Vaughn, not just for me, but for him too. I can't tell him the truth and it will be easier for him if he hates me. He might already do it, but I if he sees me with Sark, he'll probably forget me forever. I mean it hurts, but seeing him like that is even worse. And I can't mope around my whole life. This way at least Vaughn won't try to get friends with me, Kendall told me it was their task, but I doubt Vaughn will do it with Sark at my side. It would be easier if I would have to only put up with Weiss trying to betray my fake trust. I can't believe I'm actually thinking this, but Sark's right and I was a bitch – again. He should really have gotten used to it by now. Damn it, I gotta apologize before he leaves the city again. He's the only one who knows, aside from Kendall and Kendall's just not here._

Julia sighed, she couldn't believe she was actually doing this, then she rushed out of her office and searched for Sark. He wasn't anywhere to be seen through, instead Weiss came upon her and wanted obviously to entangle her into a conversation.

_Probably Vaughn's on his way to my office and searching through my documents. This is really ridiculous._

But before she could get rid of Weiss she finally spotted Sark, he was heading for the exit.

"Ehm, Edmont, I gotta talk to someone right now. It's urgent, so please come to me later, we'll finish this conversation then, alright?" She didn't wait for Weiss answer and didn't saw Vaughn coming up to her from behind. Instead she rushed over to Sark and grabbed his arm to pull him back.

"What?" Sark asked, annoyed, although it was more with himself than with Sydney, but she didn't know that, how could she?

"I'm sorry. You were right. I was a bitch for no reason." She said quietly, looking really sorry. Sark was more than surprised. She was actually apologizing and saying he was right. Right with… everything?!

"I was right? With what exactly?"

"Everything." Julia murmured and kissed him right in front of everybody. When the two parted again Julia just saw the backs of Dupont and Edmont, leaving the office real quick, at least it seemed like that to Julia. Sark followed her look and was now watching her worried.

"Everything alright?" He asked quietly so no one else could hear it. Julia pulled herself together and smiled widely.

"Yeah. Of course, why shouldn't it? Everything's just fine." She couldn't help but sound a little bit doubting and cynic at the last part. But whatever, right? No one said it would be easy.


	7. 7 Irina's back

Ok, I'll admit it right away, I didn't second read it, but I don't have the time and I don't know if I'll have much time the next days due to school, so I thought I'd just put it up. If anyone of you'd like to be my beta, please tell me, because that would be really great. Anyways, enjoy the chapter and don't forget, the more you review, the less long you'll have to wait for the next update.

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CtL – Chapter 7

„André, you're assigned together with Pierre to go to Verona and get some intel from a contact. Your flight's going tomorrow, so you got the rest of the day off, get your stuff together. Good Luck." Julia instructed Vaughn. She had stopped by his desk this morning after avoiding him successfully the last week. He was obviously surprised to see her now and especially about her talking to him for the first time since he had seen her with Sark.

"Ehm. Ok, I'll tell Pierre then." Vaughn finally answered.

"Good, good. Anything else?" Julia asked sounding like she didn't really cared, but to be true she was more than interested in every little thing he said or he gave away. She had been together with Sark the whole last week and although she enjoyed his company and how he always knew the right words to say, she had still wondered about how Vaughn was taking everything.

"No, everything's fine."

"Ok." Julia said and walked away indifferently. Constantly resisting the urge to turn around and go back to Vaughn, getting him to admit what was going on in his mind. She sighed, she had been awake since 4 a.m. due to Sark having left this morning. He had left early because their bosses had wanted to meet with him and it seemed urgently.

As soon as Julia was in her office she collapsed in her chair, shaking her head at herself.

_Here I am, totally confused and devastated without even knowing exactly why. __I'm already missing Sark, although he's only a few hours gone. Never thought I'd be that kind of girl. But he's like my anchor in this whole mess that's called my life. He knows everything about me and understands me without blaming anything of what I did or do. Well, he knows everything expect for the little unimportant detail that I'm theoretically still working for the CIA, just like Vaughn and Weiss. And, to add a little bit more drama I'm still feeling confused when Vaughn's around, I still think about him way too much. I should have probably just talked to Weiss instead of Vaughn, it makes things just more complicated and painful for both of us. Vaughn doesn't love me anymore and I'm falling for Sark, whatever it is between us, it's in the past and these "feelings" are just lingering because we never got closure._

Sydney got a headache from even thinking about the whole thing that she had gotten herself into. And if she hadn't gotten pretty drunk last night together with Sark she would take some aspirins, but she knew from experience that her reaction on alcohol and painkillers wasn't very good and in the end it was just even more pain.

However Julia grabbed some painkillers from her desk and filled a glass with water. She needed a clear head to run the office, so what if she felt later even worse? She would just take some more. She starred a few moments at the pills in her hand, contemplating if she should really do this. If she would become one if "these girls", who got drunk every night and took every day more painkillers.

Suddenly someone knocked at her door. She took the pills and sipped from her water glass. Then she took a deep breath and called with a calm voice:  
"Come in!" When the door opened and someone entered the room she was pretty much stunned. Or maybe it was just the rest alcohol in her blood.

"Pierre, nice to see you." Julia said slowly. Weiss had avoided her nearly as much as Vaughn.

"Yeah, is it a bad moment or do you have a minute?" Weiss asked nervously.

"No, no, it's fine. I got nothing to do right now, really." Julia assured him curiously, motioning for him to sit down. "So, what's the problem?"

"Ehm, André gave me the assignment maps and I was wondering about one thing. The mission is to get some intel from a contact. What I don't understand is why we have to go to Verona for this. Why can't the source just send his information per mail?"

Julia looked at him surprised. It was pretty unusual for an agent to question his mission. Weiss had never done that in the CIA office, at least not when Sydney had been around. She was about to ask him what was really bothering him when she remembered two things that changed everything. First, Julia didn't know Weiss good enough to ask such a personal question. Second, Weiss was probably just trying to get more information out of her.

Sydney felt a pang of pain in her heart at the thought of her best friend betraying her, but the calculating Julia in her wasn't impressed at all. It was a weak try to get intel from the supposedly enemy what most likely meant that he and Vaughn wasn't getting really far with their other tries.

Julia was about to say something impolite about Weiss better minding his own business when the phone ringed. She mouthed a "sorry" to Weiss and took the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey darling. I just landed in Munich. And I'm terribly missing you, although I have a hell of a headache." Sarks voice came through the phone and Sydney had the uncomfortable feeling that Weiss could understand every word Sark said.

"Hey. Yeah, I got a headache too, or better had, I just took some painkillers and they should be working every moment now. You should do that too. After all you're the one who has a business meeting every moment." Julia answered with a soft smile on her face, she tried to suppress it, but she couldn't help but be happy to hear Sark's voice, even when Weiss was in her office and listening.

"You don't do very well with painkillers and alcohol, forgot that already? Oh what I wanted to tell you, Sy-" Sark began with a worried voice, but Julia cut him off before he could call her by her real name.

"Ehm, Julian, I got an agent here who's waiting for me to do my job. I'll call ya later, alright?"

"Oh, of course. I'll call you as soon as I have some free time. Love you."

"Love you too." Julia said in a light tone. Then she hung up and watched Weiss closely, searching for signs that he has heard Sark nearly calling her "Sydney". But Weiss had his poker face back on and so Julia couldn't see any signs of anything.  
"Well Pierre. I don't really see in how far the reason for this mission is any of your business. I don't know how you handled things back in France, but here I give the orders and you're following them. Do you understand me?" Julia asked with a distanced business tone.

"Yeah, of course, I do, it's just that-" Weiss stuttered but they were interrupted again, this time by a woman storming in the office.

"Jules, you won't believe this!" Mia called and jumped up and down in front of Julia's desk.

"What happened?" Julia asked again with an unconscious smile on her face.

"Rico just proposed to me!" Mia squealed.

"What? Wow. Oh Mia, I'm so happy for you!" Julia said delighted and genuinely happy for her friend. She stood up quickly, forgetting Weiss for the moment and hugging her friend tightly.

"When did that happen?" She asked when the two had parted again while she was admiring the ring on Mia's hand.

"Just 15 minutes ago. I told him "yes" and then I came directly to you, after all I know you'd do the same. You're my best friend and you introduced me to Rico. Oh, Jules, I can't say with words how happy I am. I think I'm going to cry."

"You? Crying? That's so not going to happen girl. You're like the toughest agent I know, nothing gets you shed a tear!" Julia joked grinning at her best friend's joy. Only then Mia noticed Weiss still sitting in his chair.

"Oh, ehm, sorry I interrupted you two." She quickly apologized to Julia, searching her gaze to see if it was ok.

"Don't worry. Pierre and I were finished anyways, besides, you're the only one who's allowed to disturb me any time, you know that!" Julia brushed the matter off.

"Well, me and Julian, right?" Mia giggled, being the old self again.

"Yeah, right, you two. And, if we want to start a list, Lilly too."

"Ok, I'm going to go now. Got to call Lilly, if I don't she'll be furious. See you later, yeah?"

"Of course, now go!" Julia laughed and closed the door behind her friend. Then she turned back around to Weiss again.

"Since we're clearly not meant to have a quiet conversation, I'd say we're finished for now, don't you think? Or is there anything else we need to talk about? Because I really want to go and celebrate with my friends." Julia said smiling, but failing at trying to at least appear polite.

"Yes, of course." Weiss said and left the office.

Julia went back to her desk and was about to shut down her computer when she spotted coincidently her call-list. She had a program to trace every number that called her on her office phone. The last call had lasted 2 and a half minutes and was made from Vienna.

"What the hell…?" She murmured and clicked on the data.

Sark had called her last, but hadn't he said he just arrived in Munich? Why was the program saying he was in Vienna?  
_Why is he lying to me? Is he at the meeting to tell on me and blow my cover? But why would he do that now? He could have done it weeks before. Besides, he loves me, doesn't he?_

Julia shook her head confused and slightly afraid. She wanted to know what was going on, but she had to think about this whole thing first. So she shut down her PC, grabbed her keys and her purse and left the office.

Vienna…

Sark was leaving the airport, putting his cell back into his bag. He was wondering who had been with her in her office. It had to be some agent, because she had cut him off when he had nearly called her "Sydney".

_She sounded so… comfortable, not in the least like she was being observed. So it had to be Weiss or Vaughn. __But what would Vaughn be doing in her office? From what I know he avoided her ever since last week. Although… Now I'm not there anymore, maybe he'll try to… No. He wouldn't. Vaughn's an honorable man. That's the reason why I don't have to be worried at all. Sydney might still thinks she's a good guy, but deep in her heart she's an independent soul, longing for adventures and fun instead of duty and safeness, something the good guys can't give her._

He walked over to a limo standing right in front the exit. He opened one of the backdoors and climbed in, not wondering one moment if it was really his limo.

"Good to see you Julian. I haven't heard from you in a while. I was getting worried." A dark woman's voice greeted him.

"Good to see you again too, Irina. I've been busy. The job a few weeks ago had been pretty interesting and the game has changed."

"You're talking about the men that died in Venedig? Fortelli might be dead now, but his son is trying to overtake his empire. And it looks like he'll succeed, so everything will be going back to normal soon enough." Irina disagreed with a small smile.

"I came to the same conclusion. But, no, I wasn't talking about the Italian Covenant leader. I've been talking about a relatives of yours who's in Rome right now as we're speaking."

"What? I thought Nadja was in Argentina!" Irina inquired confused and upset that her daughter was doing something she didn't know about.

"She is, no need to worry about her. I was talking about your other daughter. The one that's supposedly dead."

"Sydney? She's alive?"

"Breathing and laughing in Rome everyday, working for the Covenant. They think they've brainwashed and tortured her enough. I think you've already heard from her and Arwin had even the pleasure of meeting her. Familiar with the name Julia Thorne?"

Irina gasped untypically and Sark grinned amused and satisfied to have shocked his boss. Irina recovered quickly. She grabbed a bottle of champagne from the mini-refrigerator in the limo and filled two glasses. Then she gave one to Sark and told him with a grin:

"I think we have a lot to talk about. When do you have to leave for Germany for that meeting?"

"Late tonight. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

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Not that much of a good chapter, but I thought it's time that Irina's coming back into the picture... Please tell me what you think, reviews always make me want to write more and then it's just flowing better, you know?


	8. 8 An Unexpected Turn

Hey everybody, I'm back again^^ I finally have my alias-inspiration back and I wanna say a few thanks here:

A big thanks to **Cadeeo**, who wrote the amazing story **Eya**, which brought me back on the alias-train, and who agreed to be my beta for this story! :)

Then here goes a thank-you out to everybody who ever made a Sarkney-vid and put it up on youtube, because the probabilty that I watched it is pretty high ;) the best one was: A Sarkney Series -Tomorrow Never Dies and in general all vids by peanutbutter88!

IMORTANT: about the whole time-issue. I think I said that Julia was about 2 month in Rome working for the Covenant and serveral months before that she had spent in the Covenant-facility, being tortured and everything. I want to correct whatever I wrote before: Sydney spent 4-5 months being tortured, then she worked for a few weeks kind of freelance for the Covenant before she was sent to Rome for good, where she had been working about 4 months when this story picks up. So all in all, it's nearly been a year since Syd's "death" now. Just wanted to get that right, since I kind of got confused with the time-thing ;)

Well, I don't want to bore you or something so I'll just say thanks for sticking with this story, thanks to all who reviewed (and will maybe review again??? ;)) and now enjoy reading it! AND PLEASE REVIEW!

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Chapter 8

It was 4 a.m. in the morning and Julia knew she should have been asleep for quite some time. Instead she was laying there in her bed, not able to calm down enough to fall asleep. But she had too much to think about; falling asleep was the furthest from her mind.

She had been at a club with Mia and Lilly until 1 a.m., celebrating Mia's brand new engagement, something she hadn't expected to be celebrating anytime soon. Though, she had always thought that Mia would be the last to settle down of the three women.

When Mia had taken Rico along to one of their girls-night-outs, Lilly and Julia had been shocked to learn about Mia's carefully hidden three weeks relationship. A serious and exclusive relationship hadn't seemed to be something for Mia with her crazy and wild lifestyle and they had told her so, but Mia had only laughed and told them everything was brand new and she didn't know what her feelings were exactly yet. Now, though, it seemed pretty serious.

It had only hit Julia tonight that Mia was actually engaged to a guy she had only been together with for about a few months. Then again, that was something that fit perfectly with Mia.

Julia sighed and turned around again, trying to finally find a comfortable position. Although she was indeed a little bit worried about her friend who seemed to really be in love, the main thing that kept her mind wide awake and occupied was Sark, her _boyfriend_ of a week.

Sydney groaned at that thought. It felt weird thinking of Sark, the enigmatic Mr. Sark she had once loathed with all her heart and soul, as her boyfriend. It wasn't even a well-thought-through plan or even a complete lie. She couldn't even honestly say that she didn't care about him at all. A part of her still hated the part of Sark that had been responsible for a massive amount of deaths, but another part had begun to really care about the Sark she had gotten to know in the last weeks. The Sark she had depended on and the guy who had steadily helped her going through the whole mess with Weiss and Vaughn being in her life again.

With a frustrated groan, Julia finally gave up her weak attempt to get some sleep and sat up in her big bed, starring into the darkness of the night, thinking about what to do next. She would have just loved to go to work and get everything that worried her out of her head, but at 4 a.m. showing up at the office hardly seemed the best course of action. Well, theoretically she could go to the office whenever she wanted to since she was the boss, but that would indicate something was up. If there was something she didn't want, it was CIA snooping around her office.

_And Julia sure as hell isn't the kind of women who'd be worried about some man, Sark, lying to her. It is stupid to lose sleep because of it anyway._

She groaned, hating the fact that she was beginning to talk to herself in third person.

The problem was that Sydney was that kind of a person that stayed up all night and with no one was around, she had no reason to hold up the act. It was hard for her to keep up the act of being Julia. Although lately she found herself more often than not wishing she could be Julia all the way through, because that would make her life so much easier. After everything she had been going through and what the Covenant had done to her, she was longing for "easy" more than ever before. Even her time at SD-6 had been better. It had been straightforward and easy. Kill the monster.

Julia stood up, dragging the sheet with her to keep her warm, and went over to her laptop, waiting for it to start up. She freaked out a little, realizing that she had indeed felt better now than when she had been undercover at SD-6, working for Sloane, the man she personally considered as evil as the devil.

Vaughn had once promised her that the whole double agent thing was over and done with, that she would never have to lie to her friends again. But now she was lying to _him,_ her guardian angel, and Weiss everyday, but she was not only lying to them but to everyone. She was lying to Lilly and Mia because of the obvious reason that she hadn't always been Julia Thorne; she was lying to Sark, and although he knew that she wasn't Julia Thorne and hadn't been brainwashed, he still didn't know that she was technically still working for the CIA.

Sydney laughed bitterly when it dawned on her; she was even lying to Kendall. If she had been honest, she would have told him that she was actually feeling something for Sark, however confusing and frustrating it might be, and that she really had begun to like her life because of the freedom being Julia gave her. God damn it, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to go back to her old life. Inside she was secretly hoping she wouldn't have to give up her new life anytime soon.

_Truth to be told, I don't even know who I am anymore. I'm not Julia, because she just hasn't gone through what I've been going through, because her history is completely different from mine, because I'm not such a cold, unfeeling person. But I'm not Sydney Bristow anymore either. I'm not the naïve good-hearted, righteous agent anymore. There's not only black and white anymore but also so many shades of gray. I can't entirely be the cold-blooded murderer I pretend to be, but I can't say that killing someone is something I dread as much as I used to. _

Sydney shook her head while she logged herself on her e-mail account. She knew that these thoughts weren't going anywhere and pursuing the matter any further would only cause her throbbing headache. She wished desperately for someone to share her worries with, to let someone, just anyone, in on what kept bugging her, but she knew she couldn't. If she told someone Sydney trusted she would lose that person inevitably. If she told someone of Julia's life they wouldn't understand her and feel betrayed and she'd lose them too. Add that to everything, her life would be in great danger if the Covenant ever heard of her still being remembering Sydney's life.

Suddenly it occurred to her, staring at the shimmering screen, her eyes unfocused.

_Sark._

The only person she could imagine would maybe not only understand her, but even stick with her was Julian Sark. But still she couldn't bring herself to really let him in completely. Besides, there was still a slight chance that he wouldn't want to have anything to do with her anymore if he knew that she was still working for the CIA. But it was something she was more reluctant to risk with every passing day.

_You got mail._

Curious about who had written her in the two and a half hours since she had checked last time, she clicked on the inbox, only to find an unopened e-mail with no subject from one of her superiors in the Covenant. It was from Bernard, one of the few powerful men inside the Covenant she had actually met. The only one she had even strangely liked. She knew that he was a cruel man and she wouldn't want to be on his bad side, but she couldn't deny that she liked his very sarcastic sense of humor. He had this fascinating ability to make biting comments about literally everything. Something she was sure not everyone was able to handle and surely not something everyone appreciated.

_Julia – The contact in Verona was killed. By who, we don't know yet. _

_There's a plane ticket at the airport to Munich. Call for details when you read this. Immediately. – C._

Julia stared at the message for some moments, unable to understand what Bernard was telling her. Usually his e-mails weren't that short and the "tone" were different. It wasn't normally that commanding. Usually it was more as if a friend had written her than her boss. Although, she knew to follow the request she was given, it was always crystal clear that his nice formulated request was indeed an order.

Julia shrugged her shoulders after reading through the message again. She analyzed it mentally, but couldn't find any codes or hidden messages, so she figured she might as well just do as she was told. She had a strange feeling in her gut that the murder of that particular contact was important somehow, although she couldn't figure out why.

While she was reaching for the phone, she remembered how Weiss had came into her office only a few hours earlier, asking her what the mission was really about. Getting some information of said contact seemed too easy.

She hadn't really considered his words, only seeing it as a weak attempt to get some Intel, but now that she was thinking it over and she quickly realized that she had been the stupid one. She had just assigned two agents to the mission, she had just been told to take care of personally, without really thinking about why it was so important. But then again, she had really had other things on her mind.

Julia dialed a number she had memorized, just like so many other numbers. It had always been one of her specialties to memorize numbers. Every good agent was able to learn numbers by heart pretty quickly, but Sydney had always been good, even for high standards. One of the reasons why her cell had no numbers saved, was because she knew all the important numbers by heart.

"Hello?" a dark, sleepy voice answered after it had rung six times.

"It's me. Julia," she stated coolly.

"Julia, I take it you got my message, then?" Bernard asked. "Well, I certainly did not expect you to check your mails in the middle of the night."

"I'm sorry if I interrupted your sleep, Bernard, but your mail seemed vague for you, so I thought if it was something important, it would be better to call right away," she said, explaining herself a little annoyed for being second-guessed, not able to make her voice as emotionless as she wanted it to. Which meant that Bernard had probably noticed her slightly annoyed tone.

She wondered if he knew that she didn't like to be ordered around rudely. She'd had enough of that when she worked for the US government.

Julia was surprised to hear Bernard chuckle on the other end of the line, then she heard high-pitched squeaking noises that implied that he was getting out of his bed and a smile took her face, satisfied to have caused Bernard some trouble. Technically, she had only followed his orders… immediately.

"Of course, you were right to do so. I guess I should have known better than just writing two lines and explain, it's not that world-threatening so that it's necessary to rouse me at… four-twenty in the morning." Bernard commented dryly. "However, now that you've called, I might as well… As I already mentioned, the contact in Verona was killed recently. We don't know who did it yet, but the contact was found dead by a shot to his head. Our guess is that someone is really eager to withhold this information from us, but that is not your concern at the moment. At a more reasonable time today and tomorrow there are meetings with the leaders of our organization in Munich. We have proof that someone has been sent there to kill as many of us as possible… if not all of us,'' he paused, catching his breath again. "I want you to go to Munich, find the agent and kill him. When you have arrived there, we will hopefully have a positive ID of the agent."

"Ok, I'll get to Munich as soon as possible. Who'll be my contact there?" Julia asked, holding back all the other questions she had, knowing she was expected to just do whatever she was told without questioning it.

"I'll come and meet you personally. There could be a mole, but since this is a top-secret mission, we don't want to tip off whoever has been leaking where the meeting is supposed to be. That we know is a huge advantage for us. Oh, and one last thing… I don't want you to come alone." Bernard mentioned casually.

"What?" Julia asked perplexed, feeling angry and confused. Except for the one mission with Sark, she always went on missions alone. She wasn't a team player. Sydney had loved it, but Julia kind off enjoyed doing everything alone.

"You can just take one of the two agents you assigned to Verona with you,'' he remarked.

"I'll see about that. Or maybe I'll find one who has been in Munich before…" Julia said tentatively, hoping that there was an agent in Rome who had been in Munich before, because she sure as hell didn't want to go with either Weiss or Vaughn.

"Fine with me. See you later then." Bernard said, sounding abrupt and somewhat annoyed, ending the call.

Julia stared at the phone for a few moments before she put it down. She had a really bad feeling about this mission. First, it was unusual that the Covenant didn't know who they were fighting. Sydney knew just too well how good their information-system was. It was kind of a scary thought that there was not only a mole, but that some kind of conspiracy had been unknown to Bernard and the other leaders. Sydney hated the Covenant with all her heart, but she knew that it was much better organized and stable than the Alliance had ever been and probably better than the most government organizations too.

* * *

Six hours later, Julia was sitting in a plane to Munich, first class. She had a seat at the window and was by now truly terrified of what the mission entailed. Not that she was afraid of what was awaiting her in Munich or worrying she wouldn't be able to find the enemy spy, but she was dreading spending the next two days with the agent that was sitting right next to her.

She had gone through her huge amount of data to find out which of her available agents had previous first-hand knowledge about Munich and she had found only one. Agent Pierre Edmont, the same guy that was sitting right next to her right now.

He was the second least person she wanted to spend time with. Actually she did want to spend time with him, not as Julia, but as Sydney. Only that wasn't possible under any circumstances. Every time she talked to Eric or Michael, she was painfully aware of that, aware of the fact that the people she once trusted the most thought she was a cold-blooded murderer, that she had betrayed them.

They had thought she was dead.

The really sad thing, though, was that they were right. She wasn't who she used to be. She would never be again. She knew that much.

Sydney had talked to Kendall half an hour before the plane left the ground. He had told her to contact him in Munich again and to be careful to keep Weiss in the dark about the mission specs. When he had told her that, Julia had nearly laughed at him. This really was ridiculous.

Even if she was still able to act as naïve as she had been once, Weiss probably wouldn't even notice, after all he had seen her kill Lauren and he had seen her make out with Sark. He would never think that the real Sydney Bristow was the person sitting right next to him. That was something Julia had made sure of.

"So what exactly is our mission in Munich? You only told me earlier to pack my things again, just after I had unpacked them. Said I'd get the information later." Weiss asked, interrupting Julia's thoughts and the uncomfortable silence that had settled between them. Julia glanced at him before she shifted in the seat. She hadn't expected him to talk during the flight, not after she had told him off the way she had yesterday. But then again, it was kind of typical for Weiss to try to break the silence. She sighed, knowing that she couldn't bring herself to just ignore him the whole plain-ride. It would be suspicious.

"I don't know much myself. We're supposed to prevent a strike from some other organization to happen. There's an assembly of high-ranked Covenant-members in Munich and it's our job to keep them safe. We'll get more information as soon as we arrive in Munich." Julia explained, sounding tired and resigned.

She instantly knew that she sounded very much like Sydney, but she just couldn't keep up the tough act right now. She would have enough problems to keep the façade of Julia up at all time when they had landed in Munich, she could give herself a few hours of little rest. It wouldn't expose her.

Besides, it wasn't like Weiss could alert the CIA or this Brown-person while they were in air. Julia fully intending on not letting him out of her sight for a second until they were back in Rome. Then he could do whatever he wanted for all she cared, even snuggling up to stupid Gordon Brown who had successfully messed with her life. But for now she had nothing to worry about besides the job she had to do, and her own issues.

She needed the time to think and prepare. She had gotten a call from one of her contacts in Vienna, Austria, telling her Mr. Sark had indeed been seen in the airport and that he had been picked up from there by a large limo. Her contact had even suggested sending the pictures the surveillance cameras had taken of Sark. She had declined, intentionally not asking her friend to look into Sark's doings in Vienna any closer.

The reason for that unlikely behavior was that she really wanted to try to trust Sark. If he had been planning to rat her out, he could have done that weeks ago. But he hadn't. She had promised him to at least try to trust him and so that was what she was going to do. After all he hadn't entirely lied to her, which was what she kept telling herself, because the Covenant-leader-meeting did exist and, as far she knew now, it was held in Munich too. Maybe this whole thing meant nothing, maybe it was just a little misunderstanding and it had nothing to do with her. After all she couldn't expect Sark to just give up his life or anything.

Maybe he was just visiting a friend.

_Or maybe he's meeting with someone to rat me out, to sell my life to the highest bidder. Or he's telling on Vaughn and Weiss to get a better position within the Covenant. Maybe he's blackmailing someone. And they, as soon as I arrive in Munich, will capture me – again- and bring me back into the cells. Bring me back to him… to the doctor and try to finally break me. _

Sydney shook her head nearly violently, trying to get rid of the thoughts, the memories that flooded her head and the pictures that showed up in front of her eyes. The cell; the darkness; the tiredness; the light; the blinding, flashy light every time she was about to sleep; the torture; the hurt and the hunger; the food that made her stomach curl in knots; the pain; the feeling of defeat when she was eating whatever she got, just to throw up at the taste; the electro-shocks; the pictures; the lies…

"Miss Thorne? Julia? Everything alright?" The worried voice of Eric Weiss brought her back into reality. Sydney winked uncontrollably, finally regaining control of her thoughts. She hated these seizures. They came over her sometimes, putting her back in the cell and other memorable rooms where she had endured the brainwashing-process. While having one of the attacks she couldn't control herself or sense the world around her.

Luckily it didn't happen very often and ever since she had escaped the Covenant's pitiless doctors, she had only had a seizure three times. No one beside herself knew about this, not even Kendall. She had been tempted to tell him once after a mental breakdown that followed a seizure, but she had refrained, knowing that she would probably be shipped off home and would be examined and studied by the FBI or NSA or some third black-ops agency. She had been in that place after she had found Rambaldi's prophesy and the government had thought she was a threat to the state. But especially after the months of brainwashing and torture she was more determined than ever before to rather die than going back to be someone's pet lab rat.

"I'm fine. Get your hands off of me!" Julia snapped at Weiss, shrinking away from his hands. He had made the mistake of touching her left upper arm in order to soothe her. But the touch only reminded Sydney of the doctor who had been shaking her, hurting her, after she had blacked-out during the electro-shocks or during the "normal" torture.

Weiss took his hand off of her, but kept staring at her with wide-eyes, looking kind of scared. It had been quite a show happening right in front of his eyes. First everything had been normal, Julia had answered him without showing anything but a cool and indifferent face, but he had sensed that she was somewhat annoyed. Then without warning, she had suddenly stirred and became somewhat rigid. A pained expression had appeared on her face and her eyes had closed, but he could still see her eyes moving uncontrollably behind her eyelids. He had reached out to her instinctively and asked her worriedly if everything was okay? One moment she looked like she was in hell, the next she suddenly opened her eyes and glared at him threatening, hissing at him to get his hands off of her.

Eric Weiss was shocked and frightened to see his former friend go through such an obviously painful episode of pain, but it didn't seem to be over yet. Now Sydney looked around panicky, seemingly checking the plane, searching for hidden assailants. When she didn't detect any threats, she finally looked less adrenalin-driven and focused her attention back to Weiss, although some part of her was still monitoring her surroundings and every little detail of the plane. Weiss was observing her every movement fascinated and unable to move or even think twice about what had just happened.

By now the old, normal and calm Julia was back and though Weiss doubted that on the inside she was that calm, she at least looked like it. She finally met his gaze and a mix of fear, anger and pain was looking back at him. She shifted in her seat uncomfortable and looked away, her eyes fixing on the little monitor in front of her on the back of the other seat, a little TV-screen that currently showed "Garfield 2".

"What were you saying before?" She asked in a cold tone, emphasizing she didn't want to talk about what had just happened.

Weiss opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He quickly closed it again and gulped, before he finally spoke slowly.

"I… I was just asking about what happened with the contact in Verona,'' he said, repeating the question he had asked her right before she had the seizure.

"He got killed." Julia answered indifferently, only remembering later that she hadn't answered the question when Vaughn had asked her the same thing back in Rome right after she had told them that their mission had been canceled. She had only said that it was none of his business. But right now she had other things on her mind and she wasn't thinking about what was best not to tell Weiss and Vaughn. She still had to deal with after-effects of her seizure and she had problems willing her arms and legs to remain still instead of shaking uncontrollably.

"By whom?" Weiss asked automatically, surprised that she was giving him information she had denied giving Vaughn, but quickly he realized that it was probably only because she wasn't full recovered yet. He really had to use all his self-control to not ask the woman next to him what had just happened to her, to not call her Sydney and be the worried friend he was and to not even try to help one of his best friends when she was obviously going through something terrible.

"We don't know yet." Julia stated shortly, not really paying attention to the conversation anymore.

Weiss sighed and contemplated if he should risk talking about what had just happened. After a few moments he took a deep breath and raised his voice again, but now more quietly.

"I know it's probably none of my business, but what-" he began but was cut off by Julia's death glare and her biting cold and dangerous voice.

"No, it's not. And just to avoid any misunderstandings, what just happened is something you'll never tell anybody. Nobody! Not your best friend and not some other employer of yours, no one. If I ever hear that you told anyone about this… seizure, you'll regret it and so will your friends and family. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." Weiss answered, backing down immediately. He didn't dare to say another word during the rest of the flight. He was partly scared of the seriousness and coldness in Julia's voice, but he was also scared of the thought that this woman had once been Sydney Bristow, the good-hearted and most caring person he had ever met. It seemed unbelievable that the Sydney he had known had transformed into this cold-blooded top assassin. It was just too surreal.

* * *

Julia was checking her gun one last time, making sure that she had a full magazine and it was working properly. She glanced over to Weiss, who was doing the same a few steps above her. He was standing nearly right in front of the door of the hotel room in which their target was. They made eye contact and silently agreeing on going in.

Weiss kicked in the door; it was a cheap wooden one, so it wasn't too hard to make it look exactly like in the movies. Although Julia thought she had seen a slightly pained look crossing his face for a split second. If she hadn't been as focused as she had been trained to, she would have probably laughed, thinking that it was such an Eric-like thing to do, kicking in a door without considering the consequences.

Julia went inside first. Normally, Weiss would have done that since he had kicked in the door, but Julia brushed past him, causing him to stay behind her. It was a natural thing for her to do and it fitted Julia's profile perfectly. She did like to be in control and hated for others to have all the fun.

The room they entered was sparsely furnished; there were a chair, a table, a cupboard and a bed. A man was sitting on the ledge of the window, a machine gun on his knees. He had obviously been checking or loading it. He looked up slowly with mild surprise on his face. When he saw who was coming in and aiming a gun at him, a small but kind of creepy smile began to form on his lips.

"Hello, what a lovely surprise." The man said, letting his eyes wander from Julia to Weiss and back to Julia, where they stayed. His voice was slightly amused, but his eyes told of another story. They were the eyes of a killer, of ice and stone.

"I'm not sure if lovely is the right word for you to use." Julia retorted icily. She remained calm and seemingly unaware of the strange behavior of the trapped assassin, but she could sense Weiss next to her getting slightly unsettled. She would have rolled her eyes if she hadn't been trained to never let the suspect out of sight, not even for a blink second. Julia couldn't help but think what a great weakness it was to let his emotions show during the mission.

_Well, I probably used to be the same in my reactions. To remain calm and emotionless during the whole mission, you have to totally shut everything out. I had always wondered how Sark had been able to hold up his stone-cold poker face, even when he was captured or tortured. But I know now. You need to be cold-blooded and literally ready for everything. While on a mission, you can't feel any remorse or doubt or anything at all. Rational thinking and instincts, that the only two things that really matter while you're doing this kind of job._

As much as Julia hated the Covenant and no matter how horrible the torture and brainwashing-process had been, she couldn't deny that their training was extremely efficient and useful. Some might say she had no heart nowadays or that she was without conscience and morals at all, but that wasn't true. She still felt the same way about things, about right or wrong, but she was able to conveniently forget everything during a mission, which made her the ultimate spy, because nothing could change her mind. Her perception of right and wrong had only changed later, during the months she had spent working for the Covenant, getting to know the life among terrorists and then, surprisingly, making some friends out there.

"Julia, you clearly underestimate the effect you have on men. Or should I say Sydney? I'm a little bit confused about that." The man continued as if she hadn't said anything in a heavy accented voice. The accent sounded French.

"If I were you, I'd better shut up, before I get a nervous twitch. I tend to get twitches when I'm angry." Julia said dangerous lowly, her finger pressing down on the trigger of her gun, making it perfectly clear that she wasn't joking. She silently cursing herself for not having shot that guy the moment she had entered the room, but then again there had been no way for her to know that he would know the name Sydney, much less say it in front of Weiss of all people. Now she would have to worry about convincing Weiss that she was not Sydney Bristow all over again. This time it would be definitely harder. But she would have to deal with that later.

She glanced to her right and was glad to see that Weiss was still aiming his gun at the man and hadn't turned his attention to her. Then she returned her focus on the killer in front of her, feeling the anger rise, although she wasn't showing it.

"Nervous twitches? Oh please, I know you're way too good for something like that. Besides, before you contemplate on shooting me, you should worry about your friend there," the man said, suddenly clearly happy about something.

"What is more important to you, Sydney, your friend or the mission? Because this time you can't save both. Either you help your friend or you kill me. It's up to you, but decide quickly!"

During his last word a loud noise broke the silence, the sound of a gun being fired. It seemed like in the same moment that Sydney heard a cry of pain coming from her left side. She looked over to Weiss and saw him slumped down on the ground, his hands pressed on his stomach where he most definitely had been shot.

Julia quickly looked back at the stranger at the other side of the room, only to see that he was now standing with his gun aimed at her, while slowly beginning to climb backwards out the window. Julia would have given everything to be able to punch the smug smile off his face, but that wasn't a possibility… unfortunately.

She was furious with herself for letting emotions cloud her judgment. Having looked at Weiss when he had been shot instead of shooting the man while he hadn't had the gun aimed at her, it must have been the biggest slip she had made in months. She had acted like a dumb idiot, and the knowledge was enough to make her want to kick her own ass. She had done just what she had earlier thought was Weiss' – and had been Sydney's- weakness.

Now she had two choices, just like the man had implied, she could either shoot the man, but then she would probably lose Weiss. Not only because he was shot in the stomach, which always was a very life-threatening wound, but also because somewhere in the other building there had to be a sniper. One thing she knew for sure was that the man, who was currently trying to climb out of the large window out onto the balcony, hadn't shot her partner.

Since she couldn't just let one of her best friends die, Sydney quickly lowered her gun and knelt down next to Weiss, quickly checking what damage the bullet had made.

"Shit," she muttered under her breath, not knowing if it was because of the fact that she had let the killer get away or because she was worried about Eric. She pulled out her cell and dialed 110, telling the person who answered the emergency call to immediately send medical help to the hotel. Only then she looked at the window and wasn't surprised to see that the man was gone.

Instead of letting her self-directed anger overtake her, she turned her attention back to Weiss, ripping her jacket in stripes, trying to stop the bleeding as good as possible.

"Don't worry, it'll be alright," she said in a soothing voice to Weiss who was staring at her with a pain-filled expression.

"Sydney…" Weiss murmured, breathing hard.

Sydney motioned for him to be silent and just looked at him reassuringly, forcing the worry of being exposed into the back of her mind.

"Shh, you're going to be okay," she whispered, while Weiss' eyes shut and she couldn't hold back the tears any longer and they quickly began to fall. The only thought on her mind was that the paramedics had to arrive quickly if Weiss was going to make it.

* * *

So, that was it. Hope you liked it. Why don't you just tell me, instead of letting me remain in the dark? ;)


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